The Hindu Business Line : Crisil acquires London-based gas advisory firm

THE recent round of overseas acquisitions by Indian companies is not confined to the manufacturing sector; leading rating agency, Crisil on Wednesday announced its first major international foray with the acquisition of a London-based gas advisory and information company, EconoMatters Ltd, and its subsidiaries for a sum of Rs 15 crore.

The amount is broken up into two parts of which Rs 10 crore will be payable up front in the next 15 months and the balance will be paid on the basis of the performance of EconoMatters, explained Mr R. Ravimohan, MD & CEO, Crisil.

The 13-year old global player with a clientele consisting of Shell, BP, Petronas amongst others will become a 100 per cent subsidiary of Crisil.

The transaction, when complete, will see a reconstitution of the board of EconoMatters with three nominees from Crisil.

The deal was concluded at the end of last week and received Crisil's board approval on Wednesday. The acquisition of the unlisted global firm was carried out through a competitive bidding process and does not need any regulators' approval, said Mr Ravimohan.

Crisil, already a prominent consultant in the energy and gas sector in India, both to governmental bodies and multinationals, hopes to improve its knowledge base and leverage the global clientele and consultant base of the acquired company, he added.

Crisil is the larger of the two companies as of today with revenue touching $16 million while EconoMatters earned $6 million last year.

EconoMatters is the holding company of Gas Strategies Consulting Ltd, Alphatania Ltd, Overview Conferences Ltd and Gas Matters Ltd.

The subsidiaries are engaged in consulting in the domain of natural gas and liquefied natural gas, data provision to niche Web sites, training systems in organisations, input provision to gas conferences and publication of gas journal, Gas Matters.

The acquired company will not only see its board reconstituted but also a few new faces at its helm. Ms Clare Spottiswoode formerly vice-chairperson at British Energy will be the new Chairman, Mr James Ball, co-founder of EconoMatters will serve as President and Chief Mentor and Mr David Ledesma, the current CEO will be new MD & Chief Executive, said a press note from Crisil.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Essar vessel caught in storm, abandoned

Trade unions setting their sights on IT sector

Crisil acquires London-based gas advisory firm

SEBI debars Ketan Parekh for 14 years

SEBI moots minimum disclosure norms for restructuring of cos