TIMES NEWS NETWORK: The Singapore-based Scandent group, after a string of high-profile acquisitions, is all set to make its debut on the Indian bourses through its IT services division, Scandent Solutions, which in ’03, bought the IT services division of SSI.

Scandent, whose promoters include the Edgar Bronfman family and Rajat Gupta, the former head of McKinsey & Co, is likely to get Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) nod for listing shortly.

“We are expecting the permission any day now,” says Christopher A Sinclair, chairman of the Scandent group and a former chairman of Pepsi. “We are continuing to grow and our ideal is to have a turnover of $1bn eventually,” he added.

The listing, when it happens, will be one of the rare instances of a foreign-based company listing the shares of one of its businesses in India, thereby giving local investors a chance to participate in the overall growth of the group.

In December ’03, the Scandent group and the Chennai-based SSI announced a deal to merge their software services businesses to create a $60m enterprise called Scandent Solutions.

SSI spun off its software services division into a separate company, which then issued shares to the Scandent group. The Scandent group will now own 40-50% in Scandent Solutions.

The rest will be with the public. Scandent Solutions is strong in government contracts, banking and financial services and healthcare sector.

The Scandent group has been very aggressive in striking M&A deals. In ’04, the group bought out the claims processing subsidiary of US-based insurer Aon Corp for over $100m. The deal was signed in November, ’04.

This was one of the largest ever transactions in the BPO sector and catapulted Scandent into the big league of BPO companies.

Mr Sinclair said Scandent Solutions would continue to drive revenue growth both organically and inorganically. Scandent’s customer base has risen three-fold over the past 2.5 years, while 34 customers have been added in the last two quarters.

The company’s average annual revenue per customer has risen by 30%, while the average annual revenue per employee has grown by 200%.