The Hindu Business Line : Sasken likely to float IPO to raise Rs 100 cr

SASKEN Communication Technologies, a telecom software solutions provider that counts Intel Capital and Citigroup among its investors, plans to raise close to Rs 100 crore through its IPO within six months, according to investment banking sources.

DSP Merrill Lynch, Kotak Mahindra Capital and Enam Financial Consultants are likely to be the lead managers to the issue. Details of the issue pricing are not known.

The company spokesperson refused to confirm the development, terming it "speculative".

Sasken had earlier talked about its IPO ambitions, but a downturn in the technology sector had forced it to shelve such plans.

The company is likely to utilise a portion of its IPO proceeds to fund its infrastructure expansion plan. It is setting up a new development facility at the Electronics City in Bangalore.

Sasken, which employs close to 1,400 staff, expects to hire some 400 professionals in the current year.

The company recently announced its plans to set up a development facility at Pune, where it aims to employ about 100 persons over the next six months.

Sasken reported a net profit of Rs 1.27 crore on revenues of Rs 109 crore during the fiscal ended March 31, 2003 against a net loss of Rs 15.6 crore on revenues of Rs 108 crore the previous year.

The company earns about 80 per cent of its revenue from wireless markets and the rest from the network equipment segment.

Sasken writes software for wireless devices that capture pictures, download movie clips and perform other functions.

Its clientele includes telecom majors like Motorola, NTT DoCoMo and Nortel.

The company provides software to six of the world's top 10 handset manufacturers, three of the top five wireless semiconductor manufacturers, and many of the largest network equipment companies.

Meanwhile, the company has claimed that it has become the first Indian telecom software company to TL9000 certification.

TL9000 is a quality management system standard that was established by the Quality Excellence for Suppliers of Telecommunication (QuEST) Forum and defines the quality system requirements for design, development, delivery, installation and maintenance of telecommunication products and services.