Mahindra Satyam is reportedly in talks with Comviva, a Bharti Group owned mobile value added services company, in a bid to acquire 20%-30% stake in the company, reports The Financial Express, citing people familiar with the development. However, both of the companies refused to comment on the matter. According to the report, the deal is expected to be worth Rs 400-Rs 500 crore, for which Pricewaterhouse Coopers has been appointed as an advisor. Last year, there were reports that Bharti was looking to sell its majority stake in Comviva, and had even appointed a merchant bank for the sale, with TCS and HCL being speculated as potential bidders. However, no stake sale took place. Comviva claims to have more than 110 customers in 90 countries including Aircel, Idea Cellular, MTN, NTT Docomo, Uninor, Vodafone, Videocon, among others. Financials *According to the Registrar of Companies, the company reported sales of Rs 313.10 crore for the financial year ending 31st March 2011 (FY11), up 15.32% from Rs 271.5 crore reported for FY10. The company reported a profit after tax of Rs 42.4 crore for the fiscal, compared to a profit of Rs 39.2 crore reported for the previous year. As of March 2009, Bharti Enterprises owned 75.03% in the company. The stake increased after the company’s Vice chairman, Sanjiv Mittal sold a large proportion of his shares (7.87% ordinary plus an undisclosed percentage of preferential shares) to Bharti and Sequoia Capital, which is also an existing investor in the company. Cisco is also an investor in Comviva.…
