3i Infotech acquires 51 per cent stake in Fineng Solutions

FinEng is engaged in creating and selling software products and developing software solutions. It caters to the financial sector, including mutual funds, wealth management and credit risk space.

3i Infotech has acquired 35 companies since 2000, including 10 in the last financial year itself. It typically acquires smaller product companies (profitable companies with revenues ranging between Rs 2 and Rs 100 crore), invests in the acquired products for further development and uses its own global marketing and sales network to showcase the offering.

The company recently announced acquisition of the US-based Regulus Group for $80 million (about Rs 320 crore). One of the few large acquisitions made by 3i Infotech so far, Regulus reported revenues of $148 million (about Rs 590 crore) for the 12 months ended December 2007. The company, headquartered in Napa, California, provides remittance services and document (bills) processing services in the US through a network of ten centres employing close to 1,300 people.

The company's strategy in the business process outsourcing (BPO) has remained the same. The acquisition of Delta Services and G4 Software Technologies allowed it to offer niche BPO and back-office processing services.

Analysts said the inorganic route has helped the company's growth. "They have been able to fill gaps in their product offering through these acquisitions. Most importantly, all the acquired companies had good margins. And since they have been smaller in size, integration is not a problem," said an analyst tracking the company.