VanceInfo used to go by “Worksoft” (a long time ago the company also used the name “Octiga”).  As some of us who attended software test related tradeshows remember, Worksoft was already claimed by a Dallas, TX company that “is a leading provider of testing solutions that automate, accelerate and optimize deployments of SAP® applications.”

The conflict with the aforementioned firm forced the Chinese outsourcing company to re-brand.  They chose the name VanceInfo as a play on “Advanced Information” - get it?  Insiders also tell me that VanceInfo sounds somewhat like the company’s real Chinese name.

They plan to begin trading on the NYSE on December 12, 2007, with the ticker symbol “VIT“.  According to the press release, they’ll be offering 7,650,000 American Depositary Shares at US$8.50 per ADS.  Rumor has it that both the price and the size of the offering are lower than originally hoped.  With these parameters, it looks like they’ll raise roughly US$65M - the chatter earlier this year was that they would be looking to raise something more on the order of $120M.

Their press release indicates that they plan to use the funds raised for “corporate purposes”, which include such things as capital expenditures, new offices and future acquisitions.  The information about book runners and offering managers is covered in the release.

VanceInfo’s Form F-1 for the offering is available online, but I have to confess that I haven’t taken the time to read through it, yet.

The folks at VanceInfo have worked really hard to build one of the leading software outsourcing companies in China and they should be proud of what they accomplished.  While they probably wish that they had been able to get listed before Longtop Financial Technologies (LFT) (see my rant about Longtop), I’m glad that VanceInfo has finally made the leap to the “big time”.  It looks like they may be positioned well to truly break out of the pack.

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