Date:01/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/04/01/stories/2008040151070400.htm

Back Edelweiss to advise Four Soft on Take Solutions merger

V. Rishi Kumar

Hyderabad, March 31 Four Soft Ltd, the Hyderabad-based logistics and supply chain solution provider, expects the merger of the company with Take Solutions to be completed within two months.

The company has enlisted the services of Edelweiss to take up the due diligence of the merger related issues and the share swap ratio between the two companies.

The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Four Soft, Mr Palem Srikanth Reddy, said “The market is becoming very specialised and focused requiring scale to address business challenges. We felt that the merger of Four Soft with Take Solutions would help in this consolidation process.”

Business synergy

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Srikanth said that the combined entity would have revenues of about $120 million this fiscal, making it one of the largest players in this space.

“We decided on merger after we saw significant synergies in the two companies, each complementing the other in a specific area and also adding to new geographies. While we had big presence in Europe and Japan, Take Solutions has good market and clientele in the US. Apart from new geographies, we also complement businesses,” he explained.

The consolidation of the two companies was triggered by the need to have size and scale. Instead of two companies addressing the supply chain and logistics market, it would, subject to necessary approvals, be one entity bidding globally, he said.

Asked if this was an acquisition, Mr Srikanth said that this was a merger. What shape the new entity will take depends on how this pans out. The boards of both the companies agreed on a merger on Friday last.”

Once the merger is concluded, the entire product portfolio and services of the two companies would get consolidated, he said.