Spanish BPO firm buys 35% in Kale Consultants

Spain-headquartered business process outsourcing (BPO) company Accelya has acquired a 35.61 per cent stake in Kale Consultants, a Mumbai-based information technology services and solutions company, for around Rs 97 crore. The deal valued each share of Kale Consultants at Rs 172. Accelya bought the stake from the promoters of Kale Consultants.

Kale Consultants’ shares today closed two per cent higher at Rs 142.70 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The shares had touched an intra-day high of Rs 147. 

Accelya will announce an open offer to acquire an additional 20 per cent stake in the company. The company will remain listed on the BSE and the National Stock Exchange.

Vipul Jain, chief executive officer and managing director of Kale Consultant, will continue to head the company. "The promoters (Narendra Kale and Vipul Jain and family) have exited the company. But I will continue to head the firm. Rather, I will be investing some of the proceeds from the sale into the holding company," said Jain.

The deal is expected to help Kale reach a wider market and drive growth faster. "With this, Kale, along with Accelya, becomes the leading player in the airline and aviation sector. Accelya processes 55 per cent of the global tickets sold through agents. For us, this is a strategic move," said Jain.

Accelya, a $80-million (around Rs  370 crore) BPO service provider to the airline and travel industry, has delivery centres in Spain, Mexico, South Africa, France, the UK, Tunisia, Portugal and Hungary. In 2009, Accelya had processed over 170 million airline tickets on behalf of the International Air Transport Association in 80 countries, with over 600 employees.

Founded in 1986, Kale is one of the few mid-sized Indian IT firms serving customers in the airline, logistics and travel industries. For the June quarter, the company reported a net profit of Rs 5 crore and a revenue of Rs 33.5 crore. For 2009-10, the company had reported a revenue of Rs 165.9 crore and net profit of Rs 26.29 crore. The company has 1,500 employees.