Zenith to enter software

Zenith Computers Ltd. (ZCL) the personal computers major is in the process of buying

software companies in Singapore and the US.






The company will spend Rs. 50 crores in the next six months on buying out a software
company each in Singapore and the US as part of entering into software business. ZCL is

also in the process of merging two software companies, the Mumbai based Zenith Infotech

and Singapore based Zenith Soft, for offering comprehensive hardware and software services

to its customers under one roof. These three year old software companies already have 175

engineers on their rolls and have posted turnover of over Rs. 11 crores and

Rs. 7 crores

respectively and a combined profit of over Rs. 1 crore during the last financial year.






Mr. Rajkumar Saraf, Chairman and Managing Director of ZCL said that capital base of the
company was expected to go up from the present Rs.9 crores to Rs. 15 crores after the

merger. The Saraf family holds 60 % stake in ZCL and 100% in Zenith Infotech and Zenith

Soft. The timing of merger and the swap ratios would be decided only after the statutory

modalities for the merger like RBI permission and approval of shareholders. After the

merger, ZCL would market Internet-based products and would focus on project-based

customised software contracts mostly in the US and Europe.






Mr. Saraf added that, ZCL that was supposed to cross a turnover of Rs.200 crores in
1998-99 had no plans to come out with a public issue in the next six months. To retain its

leadership in home PC segment and to effectively compete with its multinational companies

and domestic competitors like IBM, HP, HCL and Wipro, they would also come out with a

range of computer notebooks.






ZCL would continue with its present market strategy of MNC quality at Indian prices
targeting the middle class segment.