Essar sells BPO company Aegis for $275-300 m

Essar Group has exited its business process outsourcing (BPO) operations by selling its outsourcing company Aegis to Singapore-based private equity fund manager Capital Square Partners (CSP) for an undisclosed sum.

Currently, Aegis has revenues of around $400 million, and employs more than 40,000 people across 47 centres in 10 countries, with operations in India, the UAE, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Australia, South Africa, Peru, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and the UK.

AGC Holdings (AGC) Mauritius, a wholly owned portfolio company of Essar Global, has entered into a definitive agreement with CSP to sell 100% of its stake for an undisclosed amount in ESM Holdings, Mauritius, the holding company of Aegis. Net proceeds of this sale will be used to retire Essar’s debt. This marks Essar Global’s complete exit from the BPO business after creating significant value through organic growth and strategic acquisitions that helped diversify customer offerings, Essar said.

The transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of FY2017-18, subject to receiving regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, Essar added.

Essar entered the BPO business in 2004 with the acquisition of the US-based Aegis Communications Group, with 2,000 employees. In 2014, AGC had announced the successful sale of Aegis USA (comprising Aegis’ operations in the USA, the Philippines and Costa Rica) to Teleperformance. As a result of the sale, the Aegis headcount and revenues were substantially reduced. Since then, Aegis has once again grown the business substantially in terms of headcount, revenues, product offerings and customer base.

“This transaction is in line with our strategy of incubating, building and operating world-class businesses, and being open to monetising them at a premium value when the market conditions are favourable,” AGC Director Uday Gujadhur said. “We are excited about the opportunity to work with the Aegis management team in embarking on the next stage of growth, by focusing on innovation and adding our sector knowledge and expertise. The Essar Group has built this company and achieved significant scale and value creation, and we look forward to continue to build on the core values of customer focus, agility and service excellence of Aegis,” CSP Managing Partners Sanjay Chakrabarty and Mukesh Sharda jointly said.