HCL to be the new proud owner of Axon ?
SOURCE: Bloomberg
DATE: Oct 2nd, 2008
Mohit Soapbox:
HCL seems to have won the bidding war for Axon. Is it a good thing only time will tell but we believe that at a time when the opportunity to buy companies at great valuations getting into a bidding war over Axon may not have been the smartest way to spend cash.
Axon Group Plc, the target of India’s first bidding war for overseas assets, will recommend a 441 million-pound ($780 million) bid by HCL Technologies Ltd. that trumped an offer by Infosys Technologies Ltd.
Axon, the U.K. business adviser for companies that run SAP AG software, has withdrawn its backing for Infosys’s 600 pence-a- share offer, preferring HCL’s bid of 650 pence a share, the Egham, England-based company said in a statement today.
HCL, controlled by billionaire Shiv Nadar, took on Bangalore-based Infosys, India’s second-largest software exporter, to gain Axon’s expertise in products developed by SAP AG, the world’s biggest maker of business-management software. The takeover would be the largest by an Indian technology company, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“Axon and HCL have enjoyed a long-standing relationship,” Axon said in its statement. “The board is pleased that HCL has recognized the quality of the Axon business.”
Axon rose 2.5 pence, or 0.4 percent, to 678 pence in London.
HCL rose 11.35 rupees, or 5.8 percent, to 205.8 rupees yesterday in Mumbai, valuing India’s fifth-largest computer services provider at about $3 billion. Infosys gained 51.25 rupees, or 3.7 percent, to 1,449.3 rupees. The Indian market is closed today for a bank holiday.
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