Offshore Firms : Acquisitions Ahoy

Wipro announces the 100% acquisition of Austria-headquartered semiconductor design services company NewLogic. Nice way to announce close to the end of the calendar year (Indian HQ firms generally close the financial year in end of March).Indian Headquartered companies have made a series of acquisitions this year – all in the mid-to small range this year. Watch these acquisitions closely – many think that all the top Indian players are more or less all the same. Nope. Generally speaking fast growing service firms do not make defensive acquisitions - they are mostly aimed at growing the business more, as in this case. Acquisitions provide direct insights into identified growth areas and the potential to further strengthen the presence in chosen service areas/Geographies. All the offshoring firms are seeing phenomenol growth in Europe.In general while acquisition moves show the surge in confidence levels about future – they also portend another important happening – the globalization of the offshore vendors – A few more of such small steps would bring in a sea change in the outlook towards the market. That’s why I insist on calling the big firms as Indian headquartered offshoring companies as against Indian offshoring companies.