MphasiS supports EDS bid; but share price fall

New Delhi, Apr 4 (UNI) The stage is set for US-based Electronic Data Systems Corp (EDS) to take over MphasiS, with the Board of the Jerry Rao-headed Indian IT major supporting the 380 million dollar bid by the Texas-based firm.

''We are very supportive of this transaction and look forward to its successful closure,'' MphasiS chairman Jerry Rao said in a statement.

Outsourcing and services giant EDS had yesteday stated that it wanted to buy 83 million shares, or 52 per cent of the Bangalore-based company, at Rs 204.5 each.

The Board said that partnership with a company like EDS will enable MphasiS to broaden its offering to its customers and also provide enhanced prospects to the employees.

EDS already has over 5,000 Indian employees via wholly owned subsidiary EDS India. MphasiS on the other hand has about 8,400 employees, which places it far below Wipro (41,850), Tata (41,000), Infosys (35,000), and a handful of other big Indian BPO players.

The deal is expected to give an edge to EDS in India, where many global firms either outsource technology work or have their own development centres.

Meanwhile, MphasiS stocks fell on investor disappointment at the offer price. In trade this morning, MphasiS shares fell Rs 3.80 or 1.79 per cent to Rs 212. Yesterday the stock closed at Rs 215.8.

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