 "QuEST Global in talks to raise $300 mn in PE funding")
The firm declined to offer any comment. “(We) do not respond to speculation on investment activities,” a spokesperson replied to an e-mail query. Founded in 1997 by Ajit Prabhu and Aravind Melligeri, QuEST is one of the largest engineering services companies, with estimated annual revenue of Rs 1,700 crore.
This does not include revenue from some recent acquisitions, including that of Kochi-based NeST Software which it acquired in November last year for a little over Rs 500 crore.
Also Read
The company has marquee clients in aviation and automotives, including Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, Boeing and Airbus. It has about 7,000 engineers, almost half of which are in India. PE entity Warburg Pincus, which had invested $75 mn, holds 25 per cent in QuEST Global.
With the fresh funding, the company is looking at further pushing its inorganic growth strategy, apart from expanding the services portfolio and reaching more markets, the sources added.
In the past couple of years, it made at least four acquisitions. These include Beeken TechQuest, a US-based company focused on engineering outsourcing in the oil & gas business, acquired in February last year, and EDF GmbH, a Munich-headquartered automotive engineering services and prototyping company which it acquired earlier this year.
“We are constantly on the lookout for assets with outstanding engineering capability,” Ajit Prabhu, chief executive, had said on the acquisition of EDF GmbH.
According to a recent report by software industry body Nasscom, engineering and research and development (ER&D) export revenues from India are expected to touch $37-45 billion by 2020, up from an estimated $12.4 bn in FY14.
Apart from pure-play engineering services companies such as QuEST Global, Cyient (formerly Infotech Enterprises) and L&T Technology Services, most of the large and mid-sized information technology service companies also offer engineering services.