Sasken Communication acquires Finland's Botnia Technologies

Bangalore, July 26 (UNI) In its first ever global acquisition to enhance its outreach significantly, Sasken Communication Technologies today announced the 100 per cent acquisition of a Finland-based wireless research and development and testing services provider, Botnia Hightech, for an all cash deal of 35.5 million Euros.

With 11 clients, including a Tier I customer, Botnia Hightech would act as a 100 per cent subsidiary of Sasken. It would complement Sasken's activities in some areas, besides providing additional support to Sasken's global reach, Company Chief Operating Officer Prabas Kumar told newspersons here.

The acquisition would be part financed from internal resources, besides a 50 million dollar debt the company aimed to raise. The entire deal would be closed in a few months and the joint offering to clients would be made from September, he said.

Sasken, which already had a development Centre in Mexico and China, would now spread wide in Europe, with Botnia acting as its arm in the continent, Mr Kumar said.

''Europe leads the world in the development of wireless technology. Botnia's European presence and their expertise, combined with Sasken's global reach and India-based development centres, will enable us to offer a compelling portfolio of value-added solutions to our customers across the globe,'' Sasken Chairman and CEO Rajiv Mody said in a video presentation from Finland.

A joint team had been identified by the two companies to work on various aspects of the integration process, which would start immediately after the closing day.

Botnia was a key supplier of hardware, software, mechanical design and testing services to mobile handset vendors. For the year ended April 30, 2006, it reported a net profit of 2.9 million dollars on a revenue of 17.7 million dollars.

Meanwhile, the company's board also approved the proposed merger of its wholly owned subsidiary in Chennai, Integrated SoftTech Solutions Pvt Ltd.

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