HGS eyes acquisitions in South America, Eastern Europe

BPO major Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) is scouting for acquisitions in South America and Eastern Europe as it looks to further strengthen its capabilities to support clients across geographies like North America, UK and Europe.

The company, which recently bought AxisPoint Health for USD 14 million and acquired majority stake in Element Solutions (USD 5 million), is also open to opportunities that can help build new capabilities in areas like digital, analytics and automation and artificial intelligence.

"We are interested in expanding our footprint to South America and Eastern Europe. These can give us near-shore capabilities and language diversity to support clients in North America and UK and Europe," HGS CEO Partha DeSarkar told PTI.

He added that HGS has leveraged acquisitions to grow its footprint and add capabilities.

HGS bought a healthcare platform company, Colibrium in March 2015. Besides, it had also acquired a significant part of MphasiS' BPO business in India in September 2015.

"HGS continues to evaluate various acquisition options that are in line with our strategic focus be it for building new capabilities in areas such as digital, analytics and automation and AI or for gaining access to markets," DeSarkar said.

He added that HGS' strategy is to look at small to medium acquisitions, mainly to acquire new capabilities, strengthen offerings and enter into new markets.

HGS -- which serves brands across nine verticals -- has over 46,000 employees across 69 delivery centres in seven countries. For the quarter ended December 2017, HGS' consolidated revenue stood at Rs 975.7 crore, while its net profit was about Rs 49 crore.