The Indian software giant has been rocked by allegations that it deliberately overpaid for Panaya in 2015.
Indian software giant Infosys has been thrown into disarray over accusations that it knowingly overpaid to buy Israel startup Panaya. In February 2015, Infosys bought the Hod Hasharon based company, which provides cloud-based quality management services for enterprise applications worldwide, for over $200 million.
However, earlier this week the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) received an anonymous email claiming that Panaya was bought for over $200 million even though the startup was valued at $162 million by venture capital investors Israel Growth Partners during an E-series financing round a month before the purchase. The email claimed the Panaya deal benefitted Hasso Plattner, the co-founder of SAP - where InfoSys CEO Vikal Sikka was the CTO before joining Infosys in 2014. Plattner had a 8.33% stake in Panaya.
Sikka has strenuously denied the allegations. He said, "Once again today, some newspapers have carried false and malicious stories … These speculations are clearly designed to tarnish our reputation. They create a false alternate-reality out of events and dates, with embellishments that are calculated to mislead and sensationalize. Plattner is a man worth more than $10 billion and 5-6% in a $200 million deal is nothing."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 23, 2017
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