The scrip rose from Rs 243 to Rs 268 on November 19 in the last two trading sessions before closing the day at Rs 256. Trading volumes too have shot up from an average daily volume of around 40,000-50,000 shares to 2.46 lakh shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The company officials denied any such move but confirmed that the company had already received a number of bids from various companies and ING Barings was one of them. The company is in the process of finalising the deal, which would take another three months. The promoters hasbeen willing to shed a part of their stake ever since they bought-back the 19 per cent stake from Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC).

Promoters of DSQ Software had earlier struck a deal with co-promoters, CDC to buy out the latter's 19 per cent stake in the company. In an out-of-court settlement, CDC had agreed to offload its entire holding in DSQ Software in favour of the company's promoters.

This is not the first time that such rumours have come up in the market. Similar rumours earlier in September pushed up the stock from Rs 234 to Rs 302 in just six trading sessions with a surge in trading volumes from an average of 40,000 sahres to 2.27 lakh and 4.14 lakh shares on two consecutive days. At that time, the names of Credit Suisse First Boston, Goldman Sachs and Ing Baring Private Equity Fund had figured among the list of prospective buyers. The rumours this time are not baseless as the company officials have confirmed the management's intention to offload a part of its 60 per cent plus stake.Although the price could not be confirmed, the market expects that the deal could go through at a price close to Rs 400 per share.

For 1997-98, the company has posted a net profit of Rs 24.92 crore against Rs 15.15 crore previous year. Turnover almost doubled from Rs 63.9 crore to Rs 116.8 crore. The company has already embarked on a restructuring plan and is in the process of bringing down its equity investments in group companies.