India software body iSpirt targets 40 startup buyouts in 3 years
BANGALORE, INDIA--Indian software association thinktank iSpirt is rallying the country's merger and acquisition expertise, in order to facilitate 40 tech company buyouts in the next three years.
In an interview with ZDNet, representatives of the Indian Software Product Industry Round Table (iSpirt) revealed discussions with eight cross-border M&A advisors, investment banks, and boutique firms, to raise awareness of the potential of local software product developers.
It's hoped that a number of these firms, with special expertise in areas such as due diligence, will contribute to "playbooks" that advise fledgling, Indian tech startups on how to structure operations for easy acquisition by large American corporates.
It follows a recent fact-finding trip to Silicon Valley, where iSpirt representatives--founder circle members Jay Pullar and Sanjay Shah; and Sanat Rao, M&A advisor--led a delegation that investigated ways to tickle buyer interest in America.
On May 21, in Palo Alto, California, iSpirt hosted a roundtable featuring M&A executives from a range of global tech firms, including Autodesk, IBM, NTT Docomo, Facebook, Paypal/Ebay, VMware, and Walmart Labs. The iSpirt team also had a private meeting with the head of M&A at Oracle.