M&M to buy Italian car designer

M&M to buy Italian car designerLeading Indian automotive manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has agreed to buy out Italian design house and coachbuilder Pininfarina.The deal is expected to be made official in the coming weeks.Pininfarina has been operating at a loss for some years and had racked up considerable debt of estimated $57 million.Negotiations between controlling shareholder Pincar, creditor banks and Mahindra are believed to be in their final stages and will include a debt restructuring plan.Pininfarina was founded in 1930 and has most famously designed for Ferrari as well as Maserati, Rolls-Royce, Alfa Romeo, Lancia and others. Most recently it was involved in the redesign of Eurostar trains.Pininfarina's valuation is around $160 million and a cash inflow from Mahindra is expected to rejuvenate the legendary automotive designer.Indian tech firm buys US contentPersistent Systems Ltd has agreed to purchase the assets and hire the employees of US-based software company Akumina Inc′s content management services business. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions.The Pune-based software product and technology services provider did not disclose the financial terms of the acquisition in a stock market disclosure. It offers InterChange content authorising and site management applications, and specialises in delivering sites and strategies based on SharePoint 2013 and the Ektron web content management platform.Persistent Systems is a global company specialising in software product and technology services. Persistent develops best-in-class solutions in key next-generation technology areas including Analytics, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Mobility and Social, for the telecommunications, life sciences, healthcare, and banking & financial services verticals.Incorporated in 2011, Akumina is a SharePoint web solutions company that develops and deploys web content management solutions on Microsoft technologies.