iGate sells off Canada operations

iGate Corporation, the $267 million US-based IT services firm, has sold its Canadian operations for $9.3 million. iGate Corp holds close to 82 per cent in iGate Global Solutions, India.

According to iGate Corp, the sale of its Canadian professional services operation was completed in the fourth quarter of calendar 2005.

"This transaction concludes our strategic initiative of divesting all non-core operations to focus strictly on our more profitable and faster growing offshore and US professional services businesses," iGate said in a statement.

According to senior officials of the company, the Canadian operations were mainly into systems integration and this was the reason for exiting.

The company further added that during the past year it substantially completed its client rationalisation process and the quality of its offshore client base has improved significantly.

"In addition, we have approved initial plans for Phase III of our Bangalore campus expansion. This expansion will add 1,000 seats and is expected to be completed in 2007. We are optimistic about our long-term growth prospects and look forward to a solid performance in 2006," the company said in a statement.

While iGate Corp is exiting Canadian operations, iGate Global recently announced that it is stepping up its presence in Canada and is targeting doubling its strength to 500 during 2006.

Canada is a rapidly growing market for iGate Global. "We have seen a lot of traction around our consulting, IT and finance and accounting outsourcing services.

Interestingly, Canada is a melting pot of culture and languages. For non-English requirements, there is a distinct advantage with Canada being able to offer this capability as an extension of offshore services," it said.

In addition to focusing on IT services and contact centre operations, iGate is targeting the Canadian market with its solutions in F&A, insurance and banking space.