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News Roundup: Cognizant Acquires Consulting Firm Active Intelligence

By TEAM VCC

  • 12 Feb 2009

Shikha Sharma, Renuka Ramnath May Quit ICICI - The ICICI bank is likely to see some major changes at the helm as two top officials, who have held leadership positions in the group for many years may exit the group. Shikha Sharma, Managing Director, ICICI Prudential life insurance is expected to step in a few month according to a report in The Economic Times. Sharma, who has been working with ICICI for 28 years, had built the insurance company from scratch.  MD and CEO of ICICI Venture, Renuka Ramnath may also quit, according to the report. Sources suggest that the group is trying hard to retain the top officials and could even tweak the current reporting structures to hold them back. (The Economic Times)

Piramal Healthcare Ropes In Credit Suisse for Likely Deal - Piramal Healthcare has roped in investment bank Credit Suisse as an advisor for a likely deal. Global pharma giants Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Sanofi Aventis are reportedly vying for the Mumbai-based company. GSK has emerged as the front runner in the race to acquire Piramal. The British pharma major may value Piramal Healthcare at $1.5 billion against its current market capitalisation of $830 million (Rs 4,040 crore). GSK is believed to have appointed Morgan Stanley as its investment banker. (The Economic Times)

Cognizant Acquires Canada Based Consulting Firm Active Intelligence - Software services firm Cognizant has acquired Canada based Active Intelligence (AI) for an undisclosed sum, as part of a strategy to deepen its consulting expertise in the retail vertical. Active Intelligence, a systems integration company, specializes in providing consulting and implementation services around Oracle Retail's solution portfolio. The acquisition, which was made last week, will be formally announced during Cognizant's annual results announcement on Friday. The size of the deal is quite small according to sources. (The Economic Times)

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Tata Strategic Enters Into Alliance with Roland Berger Strategy Consultants - Tata Strategic Management Group (Tata Strategic), India's leading management consulting firm, on Wednesday, announced an alliance with Germany based Roland Berger Strategy Consultants to provide an end-to-end range of services to clients in India and overseas. The alliance will support international firms in their expansion plans in India and large Indian firms planning to develop in Europe, China and Japan. The firms begin with offering services to customers in three practice areas - automotive, chemicals and energy and consumer goods and retail. Additionally, opportunities in other verticals will be pursued selectively. (The Economic Times)

Tata Advanced Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries to set up $200 m JV - Tata Advanced Systems Ltd and Israel Aerospace Industries have lined up a $200 million joint venture in the defence arena, Israel Aerospace will hold 26% and Tatas 76% in the venture, named Nova Integrated Systems Ltd, which would manufacture unmanned aerial vehicles, missiles, radar systems, homeland security systems, and electronic warfare systems. The board of Israel Aerospace had approved a $50 million investment in Nova on January 27. The Tatas will pump in $150 million. Nova would be led by a retired Indian Air Force Air Marshal. (DNA Money)

Reliance Infratel to Sell 5% Equity Stake - Reliance Infratel, the tower company of Reliance Communication (RCom), is planning to offload 5% of its equity stake. The firm is said to be in discussions with seven global strategic investors and is looking to bring in as much as $500 million. According to sources, American Tower and Crown Castle have emerged as the two frontrunners. The deal is likely to be concluded in the current financial year. The company plans to use the money from the stake sale towards its growth as well as setting up new towers. Currently, Reliance Infratel has 46,000 operational towers. RCom holds 95% stake in Reliance Infratel. For some time now, Reliance Infratel has been looking to raise capital, after it deferred its initial public offer in the view of the sluggish stock market conditions. (The Times of India)

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Astra Microwave Enters into JV with Bharat Electronics - Astra Microwave Products Ltd has signed a preliminary deal with Bharat Electronics Ltd to form a 51:49 joint venture.The joint venture would design, develop, prototype, manufacture and market microwave products for use in defence, space and telecommunications. (Reuters)

Unitech Wireless and Tata Tele Sign Tower Sharing Agreement - Unitech Wireless, the telecom venture of the real estate developer Unitech Ltd, has signed an infrastructure sharing deal with Wireless-TT Infoservices Ltd (WTTIL), the tower arm of Tata Teleservices Ltd and Quippo Telecom Infrastructure Ltd. With the tower sharing agreement, Unitech's deal with Norway's Telenor is expected to be closed soon now. According ot the sources, the signing of the agreement was a key element for the closing of the deal. Unitech Wireless will roll out its GSM services by the second half of 2009, and this deal will give the telecom firm access to 40,000 sites. Also, GSM equipment vendors including Nokia, Ericcson, Huawei and Alcatel Lucent have reportedly submitted tenders and orders are expected to be placed within a week. (DNA Money)

Sicom Offloads 7.50 Lakh Maytas Shares - Sicom Ltd on Wednesday offloaded 7.50 lakh shares representing around 1% in Maytas Infra Ltd, at a price of Rs 53.96 a share through bulk deals on BSE. The transaction is valued at Rs 4.04 crore. In a filing earlier this month, Maytas has informed the stock exchanges that the promoters held only 15.14% in the company (36.64% as of December 31, 2008) and that the entire stake was pledged with institutions. (Times of India)

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