Essar’s Aegis completes PeopleSupport buy for $250 m

Essar group's BPO arm Aegis on Friday completed its 11th acquisition in three years and said it would add around 5,000 people during the fiscal despite the global credit crunch pulls down BPO firms' margins.

Essar group's BPO arm Aegis on Friday completed its 11th acquisition in three years and said it would add around 5,000 people during the fiscal despite the global credit crunch pulls down BPO firms' margins.

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The company has completed the acquisition of Nasdaq-listed PeopleSupport for a total consideration of $250 million offering $12.25 for every PeopleSupport share.

"We will have 35,000 people by the end of this fiscal. Due to financial crisis, companies are looking at cost reduction to protect profits. This will help us to have a major role in our core verticals," said Aparup Sengupta, MD, Aegis.

The acquisition creates a new global BPO firm with revenues of approximately $450 million and nearly 30,000 employees in 31 locations worldwide. Essar group has funded the acquisition completely from internal accruals.

PeopleSupport has presence verticals including telecom, healthcare, travel and tourism.

Essar, which made its entry in the BPO space through the acquisition of Aegis in 2003, made 11 acquisitions in the last three years. Last year itself, it acquired three firms including Teletech and BPO arm of AOL, besides PeopleSupport.