Report: India's Wipro to bid for Capgemini next month

Dec 24, 2007, 6:54 GMT

New Delhi - India's third-largest software firm, Wipro Ltd, is expected to bid for Capgemini by the end of January in a deal valuing the French consulting firm between 6.4 to 7 billion dollars, a newspaper reported Monday quoting banking sources.

The Hindustan Times reported that Citigroup and HSBC have been holding discussions with the Wipro management to finalize a plan before year-end. Capgemini which has a staff of 75,000 in 30 countries, is Europe's largest computer consultancy firm.

'Details about the leveraged buyout financing and other options were also discussed,' an investment banker close to the transaction told the daily. Wipro's bid could be close to 48 euros per share, bankers said.

There has been talk over the past months that Indian firms, including Wipro and Infosys Technologies, could bid for the French company.

'We would not want to comment on market speculation. Of course we are interested in larger deals and aggressively looking for inorganic growth options,' Sudip Nandy, chief strategic officer of Wipro told the newspaper.

Indian companies, particularly software firms, have been acquiring firms abroad. In August, Wipro, bought US-based Infocrossing Inc, a leading provider of IT infrastructure management, enterprise application and business process outsourcing services for about 600 million dollars.

Established in 1980, Wipro has revenues in excess of 3 billion dollars and over 300 customers across US, Europe and Japan, including 50 Fortune 500 companies.