TCS, Cognizant and Infosys in the race to buy Swiss consultancy firm Lodestone: report

IT giants, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), US-listed Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp and Infosys are in the race to buy Zurich-based consultancy firm Lodestone Management Consultants, The Financial Express today reported.

Earlier this month, citing an unnamed Infosys executive, the paper had reported that the company was in talks to buy Lodestone for about $300 million.

"Infosys is looking at Lodestone because of its immense consulting capability," the paper quoted the executive as saying.

Founded in 2005 by consulting professionals, Zurich-based Lodestone is a global consulting firm advising international companies mainly in the life sciences, chemicals, financial services, investment, automotive and consumer goods sector on strategy and process optimisation as well as IT transformation.

With more than 800 employees in 17 countries across  the globe, the privately-held company had 2011 revenue of 207 million Swiss francs ($211 million) for 2011, up from CHF181 million a year earlier.

Lodestone may consider selling itself through an auction in order to get better value for the company, said the report.