MUMBAI, February 23: Hewlett Packard has finally received the go-ahead to totally disassociate itself from its erstwhile joint venture partner, the HCL group. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cleared the sale of a final tranche of 10.5 lakh shares by the US-based IT-hardware major to the Shiv Nadar-led promoters of HCL Infosystems. This paves the way for Hewlett Packard's final exit from the company.Although Hewlett Packard had offloaded 82.96 lakh shares in HCL Infosystems (earlier known as HCL-HP) last year to the Nadars, its entire 26 per cent stake could not be divested since its application for the transfer of the remaining 10.5 lakh shares were pending with the central bank.
The HCL group, had in a communique to the stock exchanges, announced its intent to acquire the latest Hewlett Packard offering at Rs 38.84 per share, which is "in terms of the approval granted by the Reserve bank." HCL Infosystems, as the Rs 643-crore company is now called after obtaining a fresh certificate of incorporationfrom the Company Law Board (CLB), is looking at new export opportunites.
The company's equity base is around Rs 36 crore. The company, due to its tie-up with Hewlett Packard, failed so far to make much headway on the export front, since it would have clashed with the latter's ventures operating in many countries. With the completion of the divorce proceedings, the HCL group now derives the flexibility to lay emphasis on software exports for telecom and utilities, especially to the US, Europe and the Asia Pacific region.
The company has set an export target of 30 per cent of its turnover in the next three years. Its present exports are barely 8.5 per cent of its overall sales.
HCL Infosystems, the diversified flagship company of the Rs 2,145-crore HCL group, has interests in networking, software services, computer education, office equipment and medical diagnostic imaging.
Now that Hewlett Packard finally ceases to be a stakeholder, the company is looking at various growth options including, turnkeysoftware development, systems integration projects and to provide a total package of software, hardware and networking solutions and telecom.
The company, which has two software parks in Noida and Pondicherry, proposes to set up a new software-development facility in Calcutta. It also has set sights on becoming an implementation partner for SAP in the country, along with Siemens and Price Waterhouse.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
