US NRI, Vivek Ranadive is acquiring a British firm for $217 mn



Entrpreneur, Vivek Ranadive Chairman and CEO TIBCO Software Inc.

New York, May 17, 2004
Mohan Lal, NRI Group

Tibco Software, founder, chairman and CEO of TIBCO, NRI Vivek Ranadive, is acquiring a British process management firm for $217 mn. Bank of America Securities Limited is facilitating the deal in Britain. The acquisition of Staffware Plc will involve both a cash component and issuance of Tibco shares, the two companies. "This combination brings two best-in-class technologies together to more completely deliver value to customers investing in business process management solutions."

Staffware has offices in 17 countries and employs some 370 people and listed on the London Stock Exchange. It invests 18.1 per cent of its sales in research and development, compared with a global average of 10.2 per cent.

Entrpreneur, Vivek Ranadive Chairman and CEO TIBCO Software Inc

Though coming from a political family, it was technology that enamoured Vivek and hence armed with just $50 at the ripe young age of 17, he came to USA to join MIT’s class of 79. Fours years later, armed with his Bachelors in Electrical & Masters in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar.

Vivek was holding management and engineering positions with Ford Motor Company, M/A-Com Linkabit and Fortune Systems when he founded Tibco in 1985. Tibco became an incorporated company in 1997 and in 1999 it went public on the Nasdaq Stock Market. He also founded another company, Teknekron, which was acquired by Reuters Group Plc. in 1994.

Vivek was ready for the world but early disappointing stints with Ford Motors and a few startups made him rethink. Hardware engineer by training, software always bugged him and hence was born ‘The Information Bus’ on the lines of the bus found in hardware. With a patent later on common application infrastructure, his ideas received encouragement from Wall Street majors who were saddled with umpteen video screens around them for relaying information.