Tata Consultancy Services has acquired Singapore Airlines' 51 per cent stake in Aviation Software Development Consultancy India Ltd for Rs 14.02 crore (Rs 140.2 million).
The acquisition of ASDC, a joint venture between the Tata group and SIA, which provides consultancy and solutions to the aviation industry, was completed with Tata Sons paying the money to the airline, a Tata group media release said on Tuesday.
"This is the second significant acquisition following our acquisition of Airline Financial Services, last year. ASDC will strengthen our offerings to the transportation industry at large and we will leverage the assets developed through our pervasive marketing network," TCS chief executive officer S Ramadorai was quoted as saying.
The Chennai-based ASDC was set up in 1996 primarily to provide SIA with specialised skills for the development and maintenance of airline related software applications. It also provides IT services and solutions to other airlines and aviation-related companies.
Prior to the acquisition, TCS held 49 per cent stake through Tata Sons and Tata Industries in ASDC.
The acquisition was completed after a valuation exercise by Deutsche Bank India, an independent financial advisor jointly commissioned by SIA and Tata Sons Limited.
ASDC is competent in executing mission critical back-end support as well as front end, client server and mainframe solutions. Currently, the company has a total technical workforce of 180 with SIA being the major client.
Apart from the emerging opportunity to offer its services to the other players in the aviation industry, TCS would also focus at developing the competence on TPF at ASDC for developing transaction processing system in businesses like credit card processing and railways reservation system among others.
TCS would also explore potential opportunities of cross selling in aviation industry as also the banking, financial services and insurance industry, it said.
