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Infosys Technologies said on Monday it had agreed to buy British consultancy Axon Group Plc for £407m (US$753m) as India’s second-biggest software services exporter looks for growth beyond an uncertain U.S. market.

The cash deal values Axon at £6 per share, a 19.4 per cent premium over Friday’s close of £5.025 and 33 per cent over the average price of the last six months, Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan said.

The offer price included any interim dividend that Axon, which has a market value of almost US$600m, may announce when it releases results on Tuesday, Infosys said. The Axon board has already ”unanimously recommended” the offer, with its large shareholders and some key employees also supporting the deal, Infosys CFO V. Balakrishnan said.

”They wanted to enter Europe in a big way, and probably this is the reason why they have paid a higher premium,” said R. K. Gupta, managing director of Taurus Mutual Fund in New Delhi.

”It’s a positive sign for the company because they were sitting on a huge cash pile, and it was not generating any return.”

Subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, Nasdaq-listed Infosys expects to complete the deal in November. Axon, which provides services to companies using products of German business software maker SAP, would be delisted, Infosys said.

Rest of the news here.

Above picture of Infosys Mysore courtesy: Karthik

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Hyderabadi beer guzzlers have a reason to smile. Now they need not experience beer shortages anymore because the Nizam city is fast becoming the hub of MNC breweries. Hyderabad is indeed becoming the emerging beer capital of India. Hyderabad is famous for its Biryani, and the city is now brewing lots of beer to gulp. Foreign breweries are rushing to Hyderabad to claim a pint of the most lucrative beer market in the country.

In the last two years, four brewing giants like South African-based Sab-Miller, US-based Anheuser-Busch, UK-based Cobra and recently Singapore-based Asia-Pacific Breweries have set up shop in Hyderabad. CNBC TV18 learns that Belgian-based InBev and Danish-Carlsberg may also well be on their way .

Full article here

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Heads have started rolling at Chelsea after what the owner, Roman Abramovich might consider to be a disappointing season. This is how Chelsea performed in the season

Carling Cup – Runners up
Premiership – Runners up
Champions league – Runners up

For any other team, this would be a pretty good season. But then, teams like Chelsea thrive on getting silverware. If you cant get them, be prepared to be sacked. Anyway, Grant was never known for his tactics and was overtly defensive sometimes considering the fact that Jose Mourinho was sacked for precisely that reason. At least Mouinho grinded out results and made sure that the team won 6 cups during his 3 year reign at Stamford Bridge.

So, who’se the next sacrifical lamb? Popular names include Guus Hiddink (currently coaching the Russian team) or Frank Rijkaard (the sacked coach of Barcelona). Whoever comes in will have his task cut out. There are no half measures at Chelsea and he will have to hit the ground running on day one.

But surprise, surprise, according to these reports on Soccernet, Jose Mourinho might be back too. Jose Mourinho is almost worshipped at Chelsea. Iam not expecting miracles, but then, the return of the “Special One” back to the English Premier League would rile the old foxes Ferguson, Benitez and Wenger. That’s what i would love to see. No one gets under the skin of the opposition like Jose can.

Like they say, “Never say never”.

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I dont really fancy CNN. I have always been a BBC person. Maybe its because of my affinity to anything British. But sometimes, i just switch to CNN and wait to see if Monita Rajpal comes online.

And ya, she is quite yummy

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In 2014, the Hinduja group turns 100 years. The group, which has estimated worldwide revenues of $10 billion, with some 35 per cent of those coming out of India, wants to usher in the 100th year in style. The group is looking for some big ticket investments in Oil & Gas, Power, Infrastructure, Real Estate, Telecom & Healthcare.

If all these projects pan out, the Hindujas would end up pumping over $50 billion into the country or even more. The Hinduja group owns Ashok Leyland, Ennore Foundaries, Gulf Oil Corporation, HTMT Global Solutions and IndusInd Bank.

The Hindujas had made a bid of $20 billion when Hutch was put up for sale. But they were pipped at the end by Vodafone. Not wanting to miss out on the India growth story, they want to invest more than $50 billion which could even go upto $100 billion by the time the company hits a century.

Read a detailed article in Business Today about the Hinduja’s multi billion gamble.

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