Thaindian News

Kolkata, March 20 (IANS) ICRA Techno Analytics Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kolkata-based ICRA Techno Analytics Ltd (ICTEAS), has acquired 100 percent stake in US firm Sapphire International Inc with an investment of $1 million (over Rs.50 million) over the next one year.
“The total investment for the acquisition is about $1 million and we are making the payment over a period of the next one year,” ICRA Ltd vice-chairman and group CEO P.K Choudhury told a press conference here Friday.

ICTEAS is a fully-owned subsidiary of ICRA Ltd, a leading credit rating agency in India.

Sapphire, a Microsoft Gold Partner, provides IT solutions to a large number of companies in the US market. Choudhury said the clients of Sapphire in the US include banks, insurance companies, government units and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

“The acquisition is expected to provide strategic synergies to the software initiatives of ICTEAS in the diversified field of NET applications, business applications and solutions. It will help us cater to a wider client-base in the US,” Choudhury said.

“Sapphire’s existing engagement will provide ICTEAS with opportunities to cross sell within the company’s present customer-base by offering business intelligence and business analytics,” said Sapphire CEO Stephen Page.

“In future, we might outsource our work of UK operations to India. As of now, it’s in Russia and Egypt,” Page said.

“India is preferable because here the manpower is comfortable with our culture. A large English-speaking population is one of the strong points of India,” he added.