Serco deal a bonanza for Intelenet's 400 staffers

With the UK-based Serco entirely acquiring Intelenet, the business process outsourcing company, Blackstone, the private equity group which had 66 per cent stake, has made two times its original investment.

In addition, this deal has also meant payday for Intelenet’s management and some of the employees.

The £385 million ($635 million) deal will value the 16.5 per cent stake held by the management and promoters at $105 mn (Rs 470 crore). This money will be distributed among close to 400 employees, including the 10-15 top management executives. In 2007, when Blackstone acquired Intelenet in a management buyout for $200 mn, the amount was again shared among the 400 employees.

The management team of Intelenet headed by Susir Kumar have managed to stay with the company, despite the fact that the company has been sold three times. This includes its latest buyer, Serco. According to company officials, the majority of these 400 employees have continued with Intelenet since its inception.

Intelenet was founded in 2001 as a joint venture between Tata Consultancy Services and Housing Development Finance Corporation. In 2007, a management buy-out was completed, resulting in the business being majority owned by Blackstone Group, together with Barclays, HDFC and Intelenet’s management team.

In recent times a similar situation had occurred in case of Pangea3, the legal process outsourcing company. Last year, when it was acquired by Thomson Reuters, hundreds of employees received a windfall from the sale. Thomson Reuters had acquired 100 per cent of Pangea3 and while half the stake was held by outside investors and private equity players, the rest was held by promoters and employees.