Following Hyderabad-based GMR Infrastructure's [Get Quote] successful bid for the new Istanbul airport and DS Construction's acquisition of energy company Globeleq's US assets, many mid-size infrastructure companies are planning to venture overseas.

Simplex Infrastructures [Get Quote], Feedback Ventures, Soma Enterprises, D S Kulkarni Developers, Valecha Engineering [Get Quote], Consultancy Engineering Services are among the companies that are bidding for prestigious infrastructure projects abroad.

"The Gulf is witnessing a construction boom and there are many who want a share of the pie," says Harsh Shrivastava, senior vice-president (marketing), Feedback Ventures.

"Secondly, several multilateral and bilateral funds are flowing into markets such as Africa and Sri Lanka for setting up better infrastructure and Indian companies are trying to make the best of these opportunities."

Feedback Ventures, an integrated infrastructure development company, which is already assisting Sri Lanka's ministry of highways and its road development authority, has targeted hospitality and highway projects in the Gulf and Bangladesh for achieving a double-digit revenue growth from global operations.

Amitabh Das Mundhra, director, Simplex Infrastructures, pointed out that foreign assignments not only diversified the portfolio and order book of Indian companies, but also gave better margins.

Simplex Infrastructures, an engineering and construction company, expects about 40 per cent of its revenues to come from international operations in the next couple of years.

Soma Enterprises, a developer now bidding for major projects in Qatar, Oman and Sri Lanka, also sees the overseas market as a big opportunity.

Rajendra Prasad Maganti, chairman and managing director, Soma Enterprises, says global markets would help spread risks and also get better margins in certain segments.

Significantly, all companies are not banking on the bidding route alone to go overseas.

For example, DS Constructions is planning to acquire power companies with a capacity of 400 mw in Canada and Latin America.

"Mergers and acquisitions are the way forward," says Rafi Khan, the company's general manager.

Mumbai-based construction company, DS Kulkarni Group, has also taken up projects in New York and New Jersey.

Going overseas

• GMR Infrastructure Ltd: Istanbul, Europe
• Simplex Infrastructures: West Asia, North Africa
• DS Constructions: Canada, Latin America, North Africa
• Soma Enterprises: Qatar, Oman, Sri Lanka
• Feedback Ventures: Gulf, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh
• DS Kulkarni Group: New Jersey, New York