Zensar Tech plans to buy European firm

Zensar Technologies, a Pune-based IT service provider, is looking to acquire a company in Europe to gain access to the non-English speaking market.

"We are looking for an acquisition either in Germany, Austria or Switzerland," said Ganesh Natarajan, MD and CEO, Zenser Technologies. He added that the size of the acquisition would be in the range of $4-5 million.

The acquisition will be in tune with the company's strategy of inorganic growth through acquisitions or joint ventures. Earlier this year, the company completed the integration of a New York-based firm, ThoughtDigital, which had revenues of $27 million. Prior to that, it had acquired the US-based SAP services provider OBT Global.

After consolidating its technical prowess, the company is now looking for growth through a wider footprint. In Japan, Zensar recently announced a JV with the promoters' of Tokyo-based EZA, which has a turnover of $4.2 million, and a 30-member team.

Its Poland delivery centre was also launched in May this year, completing a three shore delivery model spanning across India, China and Poland for global clients.

With the acquisition of a company in Europe, "we will implement an offshore-nearshore strategy for growth in the European markets," said Natarajan, while admitting to the difficulties faced in penetrating the regional languages markets.

Zensar has its European headquarters in Slough, UK, and employs nearly 200 people based in the UK and Europe. The company has a global presence in the US, the UK, Singapore, Tokyo, China and South Africa.

Besides expanding the global footprint, the company is also strengthening and diversifying its services offerings. It rolled out new service offerings for business intelligence and data warehousing practice to strengthen the enterprise application services portfolio, and the pharma vertical offerings.

The company declared a growth of 41 per cent in revenues from Rs 428.79 crore in FY06 to Rs 605.86 crore for the year ended March 31, 2007.