ICT rejects Aegis' $132 million offer

Nasdaq-listed outsourcing firm ICT Group has rejected the $132 million (Rs 680 crore) acquisition offer the Essar group’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) arm, Aegis.

“The Board of Directors of the ICT Group has determined that it will not be in the best interest of the company to pursue the transaction proposed by Aegis Ltd on March 2, 2009,” ICT Group said in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.

On March 2, Aegis had made a proposal to the board of ICT Group to acquire all the outstanding shares of the company for eight dollars per piece in cash.

The offer price represented a premium of about 71 per cent over the 30-day average closing price of ICT shares and around 122 per cent premium above the last closing price as of February 27.

Last month, ICT reported a net loss of $21.4 million for the fourth quarter ended December 2008, up from $2.9 million in the year-ago period. Its total revenue dropped to $101.6 million from $112.5 million.

Aegis has made a number of acquisitions in the last four years, including its recent takeover in October 2008 of Nasdaq-listed outsourcing firm PeopleSupport. The company was also in the race to acquire the BPO operations of Satyam Computer Services. However, this seems to have taken a back seat, since the government-appointed board of Satyam has ruled out any part-sale.

With the acquisition of PeopleSupport in August 2008 for $250 m (around Rs 1,250 crore), Aegis’ revenue had touched $450 m (around Rs 2,300 crore).