Friday, January 24, 2014

DecisionOne Corporation: A Glodyne Technoserve Ltd Company
DecisionOne Corporation is the largest independent technology support organization in North America. For more than 50 years, it has delivered comprehensive IT solutions to some of the most complex enterprises in the world—including retail, healthcare, transportation, and government. DecisionOne’s portfolio includes onsite and remote Hardware Services, Forward/Reverse Logistics and Supply Chain Management services, and Managed Services that include outsourced solutions and support desk services. As a vendor-agnostic partner, it helps companies reduce operating costs, extend technology life, and optimize their technology infrastructure. With its highly-skilled, scalable workforce, it is a single source of world-class IT support to meet the demands of a diverse client base anywhere, anytime.

On 13 May, 2010, the Economic Times Reported: Glodyne Technoserve, a Mumbai-based IT firm focused on the Indian market, has acquired DecisionOne, a US-based IT firm promoted by a clutch of private equity investors, for around $104 million. The transaction will be funded through a combination of debt, equity and cash, with the private equity investors, led by Cerberus, being issued fresh shares in Glodyne. The acquisition helps Glodyne, which has so far been a domestic player, diversify into exports and get a foothold in the key North American market. "Through the acquisition we get a strong Fortune 500 client base and long-term sticky contracts in the infrastructure management (IM) services segment," said Annand Sarnaaik, chairman and MD, Glodyne.

The acquisition will be earnings accretive for the company. The private equity investors in DecisionOne will be issued shares worth $23 million through the preferential route and will hold 6-7% of the expanded equity capital. The acquisition is funded to the extent of $6 million through cash.

The transaction values the Philadelphia-headquartered DecisionOne at 0.5 times its sales and 6.5 times its EBITDA. DecisionOne provides IM services to clients such as United Airlines and Oracle, and recorded revenues of $200 million and EBITDA of $16 million for the calendar year 2009.

Over 90% of Glodyne's revenues come from IM services. Government business, where it has projects such as NREGA, contributes to nearly 30% of its revenues. Following the acquisition, nearly 2,000 employees of DecisionOne will move to Glodyne's payroll, increasing its staff strength to around 3,000. 

Bottomline: As of now Glodyne Technoserve`s fortunes are directly linked to its US based subsidiary DecisionOne Corporation, apart from  its domestic business. Fortunately for the shareholders of Glodyne Tech, Decisionone is not bleeding. In fact this is getting a niche player since many opted out of this business in US. 

The decision to buy it, had been considered a good move by the IT analysts and  soon it could be a golden goose, especially when the INR is above Rs.61 against USD. The acquisition gave Glodyne Tech a presence in the US market, which remains the largest market for the Indian IT industry even today.

Moreover, there are media reports that, Glodyne Technoserve Ltd is thinking to sell a part of its stake in its US subsidiary to reduce the debt burden. The company in a press release to the stock exchanges said: "...the Company, in order to reduce its debt burden and improve liquidity, has been considering various options including in respect of its US based step down subsidiary DecisionOne Corporation including divestment of its partial or full stake/ inducting strategic or financial partner".

Therefore, it is imperative that the investors take position in the shares of the company (especially at a time when the IT stocks are flaring up everyday) at around Rs.9.23, to a get decent return in the next 6 months.