R R Donnelley to acquire OfficeTiger for $250m

US-based R R Donnelley & Sons Company, a leading global print provider and business solutions company, and US-headquartered BPO firm Office Tiger, have signed a definitive merger agreement in which R R Donnelley will acquire Office Tiger in an all-cash deal for around $250 million.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2006, an Office Tiger release said.

OfficeTiger's transaction processing services are closely related and complementary to RR Donnelley's existing document-based outsourcing resources. However, Office Tiger will continue its current operations as an independent business unit of RR Donnelley, maintaining Office Tiger brand.

As part of RR Donnelley, Office Tiger will leverage its pool of talent and experienced management team to drive RR Donnelley's strategy to expand in the fast-growing, higher-return BPO segment.

This combined group will bring to bear well over 5,000 professionals across dozens of facilities in the US, UK, Continental Europe and Asia with services spanning research, analytics, accounting, paralegal support as well as RR Donnelley's historic strength in transaction and document processing.

"The addition of Office Tiger is a major step forward in our strategy to build a global BPO business. We expect OfficeTiger's superb judgement-dependent services, including financial management, research and analytics, marketing-related offerings and other knowledge-based capabilities to lead our growth in this exciting segment, RR Donnelley's CEO Mark A Angelson said in the release.

"Office Tiger is going to help build an exceptional provider of white-collar judgement-based professional services. As a key strategic division of RR Donnelley, we will continue to be a driving force for our sector and create new opportunities for our business, our customers and our employees," Randolph Altschuler, OfficeTiger's co-chief executive officer, said.

Office Tiger, headquartered in New York, provides integrated onsite- offshore BPO services to Fortune 500 companies and to professional services firms through its operations in North America, Europe, India and Sri Lanka.