British Airways To Offload Stake In Call Centre Arm

British Airways is set to sell a majority stake in its wholly owned call centre subsidiary, World Network Services, to equity fund EM Warburg Pincus.

Confirming the development, Roy Marshall, managing director of World Network Services, told Business Standard, "The due diligence exercise has just been concluded and the legal documentation is expected to be complete today or latest by Monday." World Network Services operates two call centres, one at Mumbai and the other at Pune. The strategic partner is expected to infuse funds for the future development of the company.

Explaining the rationale behind the move, Marshall said, "British Airways recognises that its business process outsourcing (BPO) business is growing and for further growth more investments are required. Moreover, this business is not British Airways' area of core competence. Consequently, we decided to offload a majority stake in World Network Services." The British carrier will, however, continue to retain a minority stake in the company.

The World Network Services board is also expected to reconstituted soon after the finalisation of the deal.

The Mumbai-based business process outsourcing arm of the British Airways, which has around 1,500 employees, was set up in 1996. The British carrier has so far invested around $3 million in the call centre company.

World Network Services also takes up projects for other airlines besides British Airways. The company offers various customer support services like tele-sales support, data entry, passenger and cargo revenue accounting, executive lounge management, message editing, cabin crew support, and complaints handling.

Warburg Pincus has been an aggressive investor in India with investments spanning the infrastructure, pharmaceutical and media sectors. It recently invested in telecom company Bharti Tele-Ventures initial public offering. Earlier, it had invested in rediff.com, HDFC, Nicholas Piramal, Shoppers Stop, Gujarat Ambuja Cements and the Ronnie Screwvala promoted United Television.