Microland to rejig again

Looks set to rope in GCI as equity investor in Planetasia

Planetasia, a group company of Microland, is looking at roping in Global Consultants Inc (GCI), a US-based information technology services and solutions firm, as an equity partner.

It is learnt that Planetasia with this equity infusion will give an exit to its major external investors J P Morgan and ICICI Ventures. Microland, the parent company controls the majority stake in Planetasia.

Jawahar Bekay, CEO, Planetasia said he will not be able to comment on this specific development. "We are looking at various options to fuel our growth strategy. Divesting equity in Planetasia is one of the options we are pursuing and we are talking to various companies for this," he said.

It is learnt that GCI will be offered a substantial stake in Planetasia. GCI already has development centres in Bangalore and Hyderabad and provides solutions by leveraging new technologies.

Planetasia currently employs 250 professionals and offers a host of e-business solutions to the mid-market. The company morphed into its current avatar after migrating from the dot-com sector. Both Planetasia and Microland are understood to be putting together a revival strategy to take advantage of the resurgent IT services market.

It is learnt that Microland has also started tech-support services in a small way and is looking at expanding. The Pradeep Kar promoted company which was hailed in the mid 1990s as a company of the future, took a disasterous hit when its high-profile indya.com portal went bust.

Along with it the fortunes of Microland and Planetasia took a turn for worse and it is in the recent past that the company is stitching together a painstaking revival strategy.

Planetasia offers its services to verticals such as insurance and finance, technology companies, product engineering support, media and entertainment, apparel and footwear, transportation and logistics, besides web businesses.

It has clients such as British Telecom, Hartwell Group of UK, Metlife Insurance, Hutchison Group across US, Europe & Asia. GCI focuses on telecommunications, banking, finance & insurance, pharmaceutical & healthcare sectors besides manufacturing and services.