Infosys BPO buys Australian firm

Infosys BPO, the business process outsourcing subsidiary of the information technology giant, has signed an agreement to acquire all the share capital in Portland Group, an Australian company, for A$34 million (Rs 180 crore).

This is its second acquisition in Australia, the first being Expert Information Services, which it got in 2003 for $23 mn. Founded in 1999, Portland Group provides strategic sourcing and category management services and employs 113 professionals. The Sydney-headquartered company reported revenue of A$31.3 mn in the year ended June 30.

According to Infosys, Portland’s expertise in strategic sourcing and category management services would complement its own global sourcing and procurement capabilities. The acquisition is expected to be completed by early January 2012, subject to certain conditions, it added.

“In a dynamic marketplace such as Australasia, this will strengthen the top-end of our service offering in the strategic sourcing and category management functions,” said Swaminathan D, managing director and CEO of Infosys BPO.

In 2007, the company acquired the captive BPO operations of Dutch consumer electronics giant Philips in India, Poland and Thailand. In December 2009, it acquired an Atlanta-headquartered BPO services provider, McCamish Systems, for $58 mn. Infosys BPO reported revenue of $426.8 mn in the year ended March 31, 2011 and employs 20,620 people across 12 centres, including five in India. As on September 30, it had a cash reserve of Rs 18,601 crore.