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“A lot will depend on the Rights issue that the company is planning to come out with. Sometime this month they will go to Citibank, and start working on the plan. The rights issue will determine a lot of things like the assets that will be put on block, the size of funding they will need to raise post the rights issue and others,” said a source, who wished to be anonymous.
According to reports, the BPO operations would be worth around Rs 1,500-2,000 crore.
Sources also confirmed that five to six large private equity players have envisaged interest to Susir Kumar’s bid in buying the BPO operations.
In response to the query sent by Business Standard on the process being delayed by a few months, the company said: “Serco announced in November that the future strategy for the company will be to focus on being a business to government provider across five core areas and four key geographies. As part of this we also announced that we would be looking at a number of disposals including our private sector BPO business. This is a good business with highly capable people but does not fit with the future strategic direction of Serco and will find a better home with a new owner. The divestment process is still at a very early stage. We are not going to be providing specific details of the process or comment on speculation.”
In 2000, Serco had acquired Intelenet Global Services, BPO founded by Susir Kumar, in 2011 for $634 million from PE player Blackstone Advisors India. “So far five to six PE players have shown interest but since the appetite of each is different, the bidders are taking it slow,” said the source. According to Nasscom rankings, Serco Global Services is the third largest BPO player in India.
According to reports Serco is in process of raising GBP £500-550 million through a rights issue, the company has also stated that it will also sell non-core assets. The equity rights issue will be finalised by end of first quarter of 2015. Post the rights issue, sources said, the company will then take a call on what assets to sell. “Serco is expecting atleast 8x returns on the BPO operations,” said the source.
Serco had acquired Intelenet with an intention to get access to higher growth overseas BPO market. In 2009 Serco had acquired another India-based BPO firm called Infovision.
