India's third-largest software services exporter, Wipro Ltd, is eyeing more foreign acquisitions to accelerate growth and plans to expand operations in China, its chief financial officer said on August 10.
Wipro, which is also listed in New York and counts telecoms gear makers Cisco and Nortel among key clients, has bought six Western companies since December.
"So far the size of the deals has been between $20 million and $50 million. Going forward, our objective would be to take that average up rather than down," Suresh Senapaty told Reuters in an interview. He said business from Europe, which accounted for 24 percent of Wipro's revenue in April-June, was growing faster than from the United States.
"There are quite a few geographies within Europe where we are under penetrated and we think those are the countries which will open up pretty soon," Senapaty said.
"So, we are in an investment mode, looking at opportunities for acquisitions and collaborations," he said. Wipro, owned by India's richest man Azim Premji, will launch a software development facility in Romania later this month as part of its expansion plans in Europe.
Shares in Wipro, which were up 1.7 percent before the news, extended gains to 2.4 percent at 518 rupees. Bangalore-based Wipro's recent purchases included Finland's Saraware Oy for $31.90 million and US-based Quantech Global Services LLC.
Wipro, which provides IT solutions and services like system integration, software application development and maintenance and research services, plans to expand in China to service US and European firms who have operations there.
The company has two facilities in China, in Beijing and Shanghai, with about 100 staff. Senapaty said a few more facilities would be set up in the next one year.