Larsen & Toubro ready to help infotech unit scale up in preparation for its IPO

Mumbai

LARSEN & Toubro Ltd, India's biggest engineering company, is open to spending as much as US$1 billion on acquisitions for its software-services unit as the subsidiary prepares for an initial public offering.

Buying companies will help L&T Infotech build scale and compete with larger rivals, R Shankar Raman, Larsen's Mumbai-based chief financial officer, said. The company may spend between US$100 million and US$1 billion, he said, without being more specific.