Essar's Aegis BPO plans expansion in S Africa

Essar's Aegis BPO, which has evinced interest to acquire the BPO arm of the beleaguered IT firm Satyam, is planning a major expansion in South Africa, including buying out assets.

"We are looking aggressively at geographical expansions. In addition to enhancing operations in the existing markets, we are currently looking to expand our footprint to South Africa, which is a developing market," Aegis BPO's Chief Executive Officer Aparup Sengupta said here.

In South Africa, Aegis might go for an outright acquisition or buying out assets of an existing BPO firm, Sengupta said, adding, "We are yet to finalise on that."

He, however, added that the merger and acquisition (M&A) team of the company, which at any point of time evaluates at least six targets, was yet to zoom in on a particular target.

"The acquisition or assets purchased will be in the area of customer lifecycle management space," Sengupta said, declining to reveal any financial estimate.

Sengupta had on January 23 said that Aegis was waiting for a go-ahead from Satyam Computer's board to conduct its due diligence towards acquiring the business process outsourcing (BPO) business of the beleaguered IT firm.

One of the fastest growing global process outsourcing providers, Aegis BPO has acquired 11 firms worldwide in the last three years.

Last October, it had acquired Nasdaq-listed offshoring firm, PeopleSupport, for close to Rs 1,057 crore that enabled it to add the Philippines to its list of delivery locations.

Aegis BPO also acquired Bermuda-based Global Ventedge and AOL's BPO arm last year.

With an annual revenue of over $500 million, Aegis BPO employs 32,000 people worldwide. It has 31 delivery facilities in the Philippines, India, the US and Costa Rica.

Aegis BPO is the largest domestic BPO provider with a dominant presence in telecom, banking and financial services.