Take Solutions, Four Soft mull merger

Firms to appoint independent CAs for valuation.

Hyderabad-based Four Soft and Chennai-headquartered Take Solutions, providers of IT products and solutions in the supply chain management (SCM) space, today announced their intent to merge.

The combination will create a global, comprehensive company offering one of the largest SCM products.

The board of directors of the two companies have given their in-principle approval for considering the merger.

They will appoint independent chartered accountants and financial advisers to arrive at a fair valuation. The boards of Four Soft and Take Solutions are likely to meet in six to eight weeks to consider the reports of the advisers.

The merger, if approved by the boards, will be subject to shareholders' approval and other regulatory approvals.

"Four Soft has full service products and offerings. Take Solutions' product offerings complement this very well on the enterprise side. The combined range of intellectual property is unmatched globally and will enable both good customer traction and good shareholder value," Palem Srikanth Reddy, chairman and chief executive officer, Four Soft, said in a statement today.

Commenting on the proposed merger, Srinivasan HR, vice-chairman and vision holder, Take Solutions, said, "The coming together of two leading first-generation IT companies with similar philosophies and vision will create a significant IP (intellectual property) company based out of India with worldwide operations."

"Four Soft is a perfect foil to Take Solutions. Our strong presence in the US and Asia Pacific complements Four Soft's dominance in Europe and Japan. The proposed merger of the two companies will leverage Indian innovation and a strong partnering philosophy to become a truly global company in size and capability in the coming years," Srinivasan said.

Four Soft, which has over 300 customers across 120 countries and 50,000 users in the supply chain domain, clocked revenues of Rs 150 crore in the last financial year.

The company reported revenues of around Rs 45 crore in the past few quarters and expects to maintain this performance to touch Rs 180-190 crore by the end of the financial year.

A total of 60 per cent of Four Soft's revenues flow in from Europe, whereas the US and Asian markets account for 25 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.