Infosys bids for Capgemini

[HenryTo]

Note that Capgemini is one of the premier consulting firms in Europe:
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India's Infosys may bid for Capgemini: report

BANGALORE, India (AFP) - Infosys Technologies, India's second-largest software maker, plans to bid for Paris-based European consulting company Capgemini, the Times of India reported, citing unnamed industry sources.

The Bangalore-based company will use cash reserves amounting to 62 billion rupees (1.5 billion dollars) to fund the bid, the newspaper said in a front-page report.

Infoysys officials were not immediately available to comment on the report. The Times of India said an Infosys spokesperson declined to comment.

The takeover is in line with a declared policy "to strike at the right target at the right time and the right place," the report quoted sources close to the matter as saying.

Infosys, which has grown from 500 million dollars in annual sales to three billion dollars in five years, is trying to expand in an attempt to sharpen its competitive edge in the global information technology market.

The company wants to catch up in the consulting business with bigger information-technology firms such as IBM and Accenture.

The planned purchase of Capgemini, a company with more than three times Infosys' annual sales, will "significantly increase credibility, enhance branding and push the revenue," the Times of India cited an unnamed industry analyst as saying.

The reported bid follows a recent string of Indian purchases overseas.

Tata Steel bought Anglo-Dutch steel giant Corus for 12 billion dollars, Hindalco purchased American aluminium-maker Novelis for half that price and UB group spent 1.6 billion dollars to take over Scotch whisky brewer Whyte and Mackay.

Suzlon Energy bought RePower for 1.6 billion dollars.