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Satyam Info picks up 25 pc stake in Cricinfo

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, June 5

SATYAM Infoway (Sify) has picked up a 25 per cent stake in the London-based Cricinfo Ltd, owner of the Web site, www.cricinfo.com, in an all-stock deal worth $ 37.5 millions (about Rs. 165 crores).

This is the second biggest deal in the Indian Internet world, structured once again by Satyam Infoway. In November 1999, the company had acquired Indiaworld for Rs 499 crores in an all- cash deal.

Under the present deal, Satyam Infoway would acquire 25 per cent stake in Cricinfo Ltd by issuing $ 37.5-million worth of its ADS. Of this, $ 21.5 millions would go towards acquiring the stake of venture capital fund, the US-based Indigo, in Cricinfo, an d the rest of $ 16 millions would be for subscribing to fresh shares in the enlarged equity capital of the company.

With this, Satyam Infoway is buying out the entire 25 per cent stake of the VC, Indigo, in Cricinfo.

Announcing the deal here, company officials said as per the strategic partnership between the two firms, cricinfo.com would reside in Sify's portal, satyamonline.com, under a revenue-sharing arrangement.

``Satyam Infoway would get 15 per cent of the top line revenue from advertising in Cricinfo.com for the first two years and 20 per cent thereafter. This would translate to a couple of million (dollars) in the next 12 months,'' said Mr R Ramaraj, CEO and Managing Director of Sify.

In addition to this, Sify would also get 30 per cent share in the net earnings from e-commerce of cricinfo.com from India and overseas Indians, he said.

Headquartered in London, Cricinfo.com claims to be the world's most popular cricket site with an estimated 591 million page views during 1999.

The company has regional offices in Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, the UK and Zimbabwe and works with cricket boards, cricket organisations, blue chip companies and the media to deliver cricket content for a wide range of different platforms.

With a revenue of $ 3 millions, currently it produces official sites for five of the nine test-playing countries and for a number of domestic teams worldwide.

Satyam Infoway is the largest private Internet service provider in India with more than 1.60 lakh subscribers by the end of April 2000. The company's network presently serves 43 locations, covering about 220 cities across the country. Its portal, satyamo nline.com, offers services in areas such as travel, finance, healthcare and shopping and news.