Intelenet to buy 51% in Spanco BPO arm

Intelenet Global Services, a HDFC-Barclays joint venture engaged in business process outsourcing (BPO), will acquire Sparsh, the BPO outfit of Spanco Telesystems and Solutions. The Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Capital holds a 10 per cent stake in Spanco Telesystems.

According to the arrangement between the two companies, Spanco will demerge Sparsh which will be acquired by the domestic subsidiary of Intelenet.

For the acquisition, the Intelenet subsidiary will pay 51 per cent of the agreed valuation of Sparsh to Spanco in cash and will issue 49 per cent of the post issue share capital to Spanco.

The company will be listed on BSE, subject to necessary regulatory approvals of demerger.

Sparsh has seven centres "" Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Gurgaon and Bangalore. It employs 4,000 people and operates 2,500 seats, which will move up to 5,000 by end of this year.

Intelenet Global CEO Sushil Kumar said the acquisition would help the company gain leadership in the growing BPO market in the country. "We believe that the expertise and relationships that Spanco has built will allow us to tap the market effectively. We will leverage expertise of our interntional business in the domestic BPO market to enhance end-to-end customer experience," he added.

The Mumbai-based Spanco is into outsourcing services, including data collection, data processing, accounts opening and voice services. Spanco employs over 4,000 people. It operates from five locations in India and services over 40 clients, most of which are Indian blue chip companies.

Kapil Puri, Chairman, Spanco Telesystems said, "We were looking to partner with a suitable partner who is committed and interested in growing the domestic BPO business in this emerging market. We felt that the partnership with Intelenet provides benefit to our clients and employees and ensures business growth."

Intelenet has over five years of expertise in delivering custom-made service solutions that are aligned to suit the outsourcing strategies of companies.

With over 5,000 employees today, Intelenet currently handles over 60 million calls and processes 17 million transactions annually for 16 UK and US clients from its four delivery centres.