Zensar eyes overseas buys

Zensar Technologies, the Rs 900-crore RPG Group company, was looking at acquisitions in the US and Europe within the next six months to increase its scale of operations in overseas markets, said a senior official of the company.

“We are looking to acquire companies in the US and Europe with a turnover of close to $80 million (Rs 364 crore) to gain scale in offshore abilities and remote infrastructure management, among other plans,” Ganesh Natarajan, vice-chairman and CEO of Zensar, told Business Standard.

The company plans to set aside around $100 million (around Rs 460 crore) for this, to be raised through internal accruals and debt. It has appointed merchant bankers Chesapeake Group in the US and Ernst and Young in India.

Over the last three years, the company has acquired three small companies in Hyderabad, New Jersey and Japan.

“As of now, we have an order book of $700 million (Rs 3,185 crore) for the next five years. Almost 85 per cent of the next year’s business has already been signed,” said Natarajan.

The company is on a hiring spree. It is adding 800 people to its 5,200 strong team. It hired 200 freshers from campuses in January this year. The remaining will be experienced hands. Last year, the company recruited 550 people.

Zensar is investing Rs 50 crore to set up a three-acre campus in Bhubaneswar for a 600-seater centre in the first phase. It will also set up a 40-people campus in Shanghai this year. “We aim to be among the top 10 Indian information technology providers within the next six years. Currently, we are at 16 among India-listed companies and 23 among worldwide-listed companies.”

The company expects to close the current financial year with a turnover of Rs 950 crore and a profit of Rs 110 crore. Last financial year, the company posted a turnover of close to Rs 900 crore and a profit of Rs 80 crore.

Currently, 80 per cent of Zensar’s business comes from the UK and the remaining 20 per cent from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) globally. “We want 10 per cent of our revenues to come from India in the next two years. For this, we will be focusing on Indian SMEs. In April, we are introducing hosted service for the sector at only Rs 20,000 per month,” said Natarajan.

This year, the company will also focus on hosted solutions, business intelligence, procurement and supply chain solutions, and insurance, besides education and healthcare, “since these sectors are recession-proof”. The company recently bagged a Rs 5-6 crore education project in Jammu & Kashmir.

Currently, India contributes Rs 45 crore, which the company intends to double in two years. Among other plans, Zensar is also looking for clients in the insurance sector for its domestic BPO venture. Currently, its BPO business serves clients in the retail and financial sectors. Around 70 per cent of its revenues come from application outsourcing and 25 per cent from enterprise resource planning solutions.