Hinduja BPO arm acquires UK-based company

Hinduja Global Solutions (HGSL), a business process outsourcing company and part of the Hinduja Group, today announced that it had bought UK-based customer relationship management company Careline Services. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition will act as a launch pad for HGSL to enter the UK and European markets and will also be a platform to cross-sell its global delivery model to Careline’s European clients. Ashok P Hinduja, chairman of Hinduja Group India, recently told Business Standard that the group was looking to acquire BPO units in the UK and the US as part of its plan to deploy idle cash. HGSL had a cash and cash-equivalents of Rs 648 crore as of March 31, 2010, of which Rs 577 crore was with Pacific Horizon, a wholly-owned Mauritian subsidiary.

Hinduja had said that the BPO deals were expected to be finalised over the next few weeks. While the BPO outfit in the UK, with which the Hindujas were in talks, had sales of around 25 million pound (around Rs 170 crore), the US company had revenues of $250 million (around Rs 1,000 crore).

Careline Services is a contact centre provider, serving more than 20 customers across verticals such as government, fast moving consumer goods, financial services, automobiles, telecom and retailers. It has over 1,000 employees across three sites in the UK. It handles in excess of 50,000 customer interactions every day across multiple channels and in 14 languages. The chief executive of Careline Services, senior management team and key employees of Careline Services will continue in their roles after the acquisition.

This is HGSL’s first acquisition in the UK and it expects to grow its business rapidly in the next few years. With the acquisition, HGSL will have a presence in 29 delivery centres across the USA, India, Philippines, Canada, Mauritius and the UK, and its global headcount will cross 16,000 people. “Careline is a strategic fit as it opens up a new geography and provides access to new clients. This enhances our ability to meet customers’ expectations of delivering services across different geographies,” said Partha Sarkar, CEO of HGSL. Charles Cooper-Driver, the managing director and co-founder of Careline Services, added that the acquisition marked the next phase of growth for Careline and strengthened its ability to act as a strategic business partner to clients.