Aegis eyes 5-6 buys in global markets

Aegis, the business process outsourcing (BPO) arm of the Essar Group, is working on a mix of organic and inorganic strategies to reach the $1-billion revenue mark. After the recent acquisition of AGC Networks, Aegis’s revenue is estimated to have reached around $700 million. The company’s headcount has touched 40,000.

MD & CEO Aparup Sengupta said the company is evaluating 5-6 companies in the US, Latin America, Europe and Africa. “We are talking of at least four acquisitions a year. We are open to any size of deal. It’s all very contextual — we have to find out the assets; evaluate them whether it makes sense to acquire them or not. So, size is not the criterion, it’s about the economics and sustainability and what it is that we are going to do with the asset.”

Sengupta dubs it a ‘double cylinder engine’ strategy to reach the $1-billion milestone. “This is what I call a ‘double cylinder engine’ in Aegis, which used to have organic growth as well as inorganic growth. We are embarking on inorganic growth in places where we are not there or to acquire certain capabilities that are not at scale. The organic growth is part an effort to expand our global footprint and delivery model. So, both these put together will take Aegis to a billion-dollar company,” he said.

Aegis has been aggressive in the recent past, having made 13 acquisitions in the last 3-4 years. Recently, the company signed an agreement to acquire US-based Sallie Mae’s customer service centre in Texas, for an undisclosed amount. After that, it acquired Avaya’s 59.13 per cent stake in AGC Networks, a provider of communications solutions, for $44.5 mn (Rs 205 crore).

The company has so far raised $200 million in debt through various banks. To a query if Aegis was preparing itself to go for an initial public offering (IPO), Sengupta said the company had evaluated all options for raising capital.

“IPO is only an alternative that one would look at. There are various ways for raising capital. Currently, we are not looking at, per say, an IPO. If time comes, we will keep our eyes and ears open, and we will be very happy to look at those alternatives.”

In the current financial year, Aegis plans to hire 11,000 people. The company has about 17 delivery centres in India, including those in smaller cities like Jamshedpur, Bhopal and Srinagar. Aegis is present in nine countries, and is also planning to expand its global footprint to multiple geographies.

“We would like to present ourselves in the entire value chain for our customers, starting from experience management to technology services to managed services, and build the multinational company,” Sengupta signed off.