SSI's software business likely to be de-merged with the US-based Scandent Group

Leading foreign funds such as Citigroup, ABN Amro and Merrill Lynch have sold more than 7.5 per cent stake in SSI Ltd, a Chennai based software development company. In July, through a chart of reported block deals the foreign funds have sold more than 1.4 million shares which were absorbed either by the domestic high net worth investors or by circles close to the management in the price band, sources close the deal said. The equity of the company is around 8.6 million shares.

Sources said that SSI''s software service business is likely to be de-merged with the US based Scandent group''s IT services business which is in Chennai. The proposed new entity, in which SSI and Scandent will hold equal equity, will be a mid-sized IT services company with projected combined annual revenues of $60 million and 1,100 employees.

Scandent Solutions is a broad based information technology solutions firm. Scandent Group provides value-maximising solutions through business and technology innovation.

Scandent Group was created to be an early leader of this model. It provides a wide range of offerings from strategic consulting down to business process outsourcing, through application implementation, software development and support services.

The company's core offering is triangulated by a global, scalable workforce — to support clients who are going global or have existing operations all over the world, rich domain-specific skills — to speak the 'business' language of clients in verticals such as government, banking, financial services, insurance, manufacturing, logistics and so on and unparalleled technology prowess — to support clients in the creation and deployment of state of the art solutions that help them differentiate themselves from their competitors.

Scandent is a broad based services and solutions company. Its areas of focus are wide in scope and its capabilities in the markets it chooses to serve, are comprehensive and deep. Scandent Group and its affiliates and partners employ several thousand professionals all over the globe. The company has two main operating divisions - called Scandent Solutions or SSL and Process Mind.