|
| Maveric to raise $25 mn for European buyout |
| Ravi Menon / Chennai/ Bangalore Aug 03, 2010, 00:06 IST |
|
Global software testing services company Maveric Systems is going through the rudiments of raising $25 million (Rs 116 crore) through a private-equity funding series as part of pursuing its inorganic growth plans in Europe.
The Chennai-based independent software testing firm was aligning with a few private equity players to finance the buyouts of two European companies in the software testing and validation space, Maveric Systems director P Venkatesh said.
“We have been targeting two software testing companies in Europe for strategic acquisitions. We will be looking to close our first acquisition in Europe in fiscal 2011 and the second by the end of next year,” Venkatesh said.
He said that while the company had decided to raise private equity via equity dilution, it would be premature to comment on any valuation of the closely-held company at this point of time. Promoters currently hold 70 per cent of the total equity in the company.
“Our current fund-raising plans and the quantum of stake dilution will be linked to the acquisitions in Europe through which we plan to grow our presence in the western European market. Post-fundraising, we are likely to bring a PE firm on the company board.”
Maveric Systems had earlier attempted an acquisition in the UK market without success. Into its tenth year of operations, the company has so far been growing organically riding on its internal accruals.
Since its inception, the company has gained a strong presence in providing security testing services targeted at the BFSI sector in the UK, Saudi Arabian and the West Asian markets. The company has been targeting acquisition possibilities in western Europe where it is looking to grow its presence in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) verticals.
Maveric has also focused on growing its presence in the Scandinavian market where it has 15 people currently.
The company’s aggressive growth plans have centred around the launch of a new consulting practice built around software testing, which is expected to generate about $2 million in revenues over the next three years. The new practice got rolling with two new facilities launched in Chennai recently — a delivery centre and security testing lab at the SEZ in Guduvancheri, and a research facility based at the IIT Chennai Research Park.
The new R&D facility at IIT Chennai will work closely with the delivery team operating from the security testing lab at the Guduvancheri SEZ to create software security testing, network testing, vulnerability assessment applications and risk management consulting for Maveric’s clients.
“We have added user-support on the software testing front. We are also looking at further growth in the areas of program management and requirement validation. We have so far delivered a few requirements validation and compliance projects in the Middle East,” Venkatesh said.
Maveric Systems finished fiscal 2010 with sales of Rs 70 crore and 520 people on its rolls. The company has a ready pipeline of 100 people based in its training division. Over the next year, the company expects to be handling 12 to 15 projects covering the technical security assessments and compliance requirements of clients.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Read Business news in |  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Advertisements |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Content Guide
