Indian ISP Satyam Infoway Ltd has struck a deal to acquire a 24.5% stake in web content provider IndiaWorld Communications Private Ltd for 1.22bn rupees ($28.1m). The deal also contains an option for Satyam to scoop up the remaining 75.5% of the company for a further 3.77bn rupees ($87m), which would take the total value of the acquisition to roughly $115m. Satyam has until June 30 to close the second part of the deal, which it said it intends to do, and has already paid a non-refundable deposit of about $12m for the option.
IndiaWorld’s portfolio of web sites, which offer news and search services, will be integrated with Satyam’s portal. The acquisition would give Satyam – already the second-largest ISP in India with about 100,000 subscribers – a major boost in the area of content and traffic. Its existing portal’s 13 million page views in October would be instantly doubled with the addition of the IndiaWorld properties.
