Sobha Renaissance to divest 10 per cent

Sobha Renaissance Information Technology (SRIT), an IT solutions provider promoted by Sobha Developers chairman P N C Menon, is planning to divest 10 per cent of its stake to a strategic investor by the end of June this year.

According to a company spokesperson, SRIT which has a topline of Rs 200 crore was recently valued by an external agency at $250 million (around Rs 1,000 crore). Menon & Associates hold close to 75 per cent in the company.

The company is planning to increase its equity base and divest a part of it to a strategic investor, to have access to international market. The company is planning to raise in excess of $25 million through this.

"So far, we don't have any strategic investment within the company. However, in our last meeting, the company's board has approved to divest 10 per cent stake to a strategic investor. We believe that the investor will bring strategic value to the company in terms of opening doors for other business," SRIT managing director and CEO Madhu Nambiar told Business Standard.

The company had received 7-8 proposals from some US-based firms, of which three have been short-listed.

"The investors we are talking to have made vast investments in telecom and healthcare sectors. Leveraging their understanding of both these segments in the international market, we will be able to tap the vast opportunities in this sector," he added.

SRIT, which has made three acquisitions so far, is also planning to acquire a clinical solutions providers based in the west coast of the US. "We have short-listed three companies and are quite optimistic of acquiring one of them during September - October this fiscal," Nambiar said.

The first company on SRIT radar is a 150-people organisation with revenues of $16 million. The company has over 200 large hospitals and clinics as its customers.

Nambiar said that the size of the acquisition was expected to be of the size of $30 million. Besides, SRIT has two more companies "" one of $14 million size and the other $11 million "" on its radar.

Presently, acquisitions contribute 40 per cent of SRIT's Rs 200 crore topline. Nambiar said the company had set an objective of achieving a revenue of Rs 1,000 crore during fiscal 2009-10.