EXL eyes mid-sized companies in US, India

The company is looking at acquisition of firms in both the US and India. It plans to close at least one deal by the end of this financial year.

EXL has set the revenue for target firms in India in the range of $50-100 million, while it is eyeing multiple acquisitions of small firms offering business process outsourcing services in the US.

 

"Acquisitions are a core part of our growth strategy and these targets, here and abroad, will happen if we get the right kind of opportunity," said Rohit Kapoor, president and CEO, EXL Services.

EXL Services currently has funds of around $100 million (around Rs 400 crore) and also plans to use its equity if required. The company plans to acquire only when valuations are appropriate.

The company's ticket size for acquisition has also gone up considerably. It had shown interest in acquiring firms in the range of $25-50 million. This also shows the trend in the industry, where acquisition size has been going up owing to the fall in valuations of IT firms.

Apart from the acquisition of Inductis in 2006, EXL has not acquired any other firm. However, this acquisition gave the company a considerable headway in the analytics and research services segment. Over 30 per cent of EXL's revenues come from research and analytics and risk advisory services and the company is keen to add capabilities in the same through acquisitions.