Pvt equity firm buys out SPI Tech

TH Lee Putnam Ventures, a private equity fund, today announced that it has taken a majority interest in SPI Technologies Inc, a provider of content outsourcing services, through a public tender process in which 99.72 per cent of SPI's outstanding shares were tendered.

GIC Special Investments Pte Ltd has also taken a small stake in SPI. The transaction, which values the company at approximately $100 million, is believed to be one of the largest private equity transactions in the attractive multi-country business process outsourcing (BPO) sector.

SPI has a presence in India following the acquisition of the Pondicherry-based Kolam Information Services, a leading provider of a range of services to leading scholarly and professional book publishers.

Lee Putnam is a technology-focused private equity firm affiliated with Thomas H. Lee Partners, a leading buyout firm, and Putnam Investments, a leading global money management firm.

The firm manages $1.1 billion in capital commitments and has offices in New York, Boston and London. GIC Special is the private equity investment arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation.

Ramanan Raghavendran, managing director, TH Lee Putnam Ventures, is the chairman of SPI's new board. Raghavendran said, "We believe TH Lee Putnam Ventures is uniquely positioned to assist SPI because of our investment experience in the business process outsourcing sector, our hands-on understanding of multi-country delivery, and our network in the company's target industries. We are looking forward to working with Ernest Cu and the entire SPI team."

SPI plans to further expand its presence in India as a key component of its aggressive growth strategy.

Currently, the company has facilities located in Pondicherry and Kolkata, with a total of 750 personnel.