Indian ICT services company Mahindra Satyam is on the hunt for a potential deal in SA, as it seeks to speed up its plan of doubling up its revenue in the next 18 months.
The company was rocked by a scandal several years ago, after founder and chairman Ramalinga Raju resigned and revealed, in his resignation letter, that the company had been inflating figures by up to $1 billion for years.
In mid-2009, Tech Mahindra took over Satyam. Tech Mahindra is part of the $15.9 billion Mahindra Group, which employs more than 155 000 people in more than 100 countries.
Mahindra Satyam CEO CP Gurnani says SA has the potential to accelerate the company's successes in the country, and Mahindra Satyam is looking for a strong partner to speed up growth. He adds that Mahindra Satyam is keen to either take a majority stake, or buy out an entity.
Gurnani says Mahindra Satyam is looking for entities in IT services, as well as cloud, infrastructure and security. It has around 2 500 staff in Africa, of which about 200 are based at its four South African offices.
Mahindra Satyam has operations in 20 African countries, from which it serves 52 countries, says Gurnani. He notes that it aims to double its local business organically.
Mahindra Satyam may also look to form a joint venture with an international organisation, or purchase a non-core unit from a corporate, such as a call centre operation, says Gurnani. He adds that the company is keen on a large deal and has budgeted between R700 million and R800 million for a buyout.
Africa currently contributes about 2% of the group's total revenue, which Gurnani wants to push to 5% within the next two years. He says the group will grow its headcount and, should the company double, staff will increase by a factor of 1.7.
Mahindra Satyam started in SA in 2004, and provides IT services, infrastructure management services, business process outsourcing and offerings to the telecoms, retail, manufacturing and banking sectors, says Gurnani, who was in the country this week to deepen relationships and seek potential deals.
Mahindra Satyam was responsible for the IT backbone and network for the 2010 World Cup games. It is also providing services to Fifa for the next World Cup in Brazil.
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