Patni, iGate heads plan integration meet

The senior leadership of iGate Corp and Patni Computer Systems is set to meet for the first time later this week after the Nasdaq-listed iGate announced its acquisition of Patni on 10 January.

The purpose of the meeting will be to draw up a road map for the integration of the two companies and how they can position themselves to clients to maximise benefits from their combined portfolio of services.

Around 25-30 people from the senior management of both companies, from India and overseas, are scheduled to attend the three-day leadership meet in Bangalore.

While the transaction itself could take till March 2011 to be completed, the two companies will in the meantime start working on a joint go-to-market strategy, messages to take to customers of both companies, and their areas of synergies, said Surjeet Singh, Patni's chief financial officer.

"As an example, iGate's banking and financial experience can be cross-sold to Patni customers. Similarly, the product engineering and manufacturing background that Patni has can be cross-sold to iGate customers. Some of these things will start happening over the next two to three weeks," said Singh.

iGate's acquisition of Patni, the largest acquisition by an India-based IT firm of another India-based IT firm, could be also one of the most complex to integrate, with iGate being a third of Patni's size in revenues. Both iGate and Patni plan to form an 'integration project management office' within their companies and a common steering committee to facilitate the integration process.