The Hindu Business Line : Photon Infotech plans to go public in April-June

Chennai, Jan. 20Photon Infotech, a California-based information technology company with operations in Chennai, plans to come out with its initial public offering, to raise about Rs 150 crore.

The company will file a draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India next week. Funds raised will be used to expand its presence in other countries, besides setting up a second development centre at Bangalore, Mr Srinivas Balasubramanian, Chief Executive Director of the company, told Business Line on the sidelines of TiECON Chennai 2008, a day-long event focusing on entrepreneurship.

Eyes European buy

“We plan to earmark some portion of the funds raised towards mergers and acquisitions,” he added.

The company hopes to acquire a European firm so as to make its entry easy in that region. “We have seen companies but have not decided on anything so far,” he said.

Mr Balasubramanian expects the initial public offer to hit the market during April- June.

Headcount

Photon Infotech provides solutions in the second generation Internet technology (Web 2.0), service-oriented architecture and search engine optimisation space. With about 1,300 employees at its Chennai facility, the company plans to double headcount during the next fiscal.

The company has about 500 clients and a majority of its revenues come from small and medium enterprises in North America, he said, without sharing the company’s expected turnover for 2007-2008. “We have been growing by 150 per cent year on year. This is enough momentum for us to go public,” he said.