Mascot to buy Delhi BPO firm

BANGALORE: Mascot Systems marked its foray in to the IT Enabled Services (ITES) segment with the acquisition of the Contact Center and Facility Management businesses of Delhi-based outsourced services provider IT&T Ltd. (IT&T).

It has signed an agreement to acquire as a going concern, IT&T'S BPO business, by way of a business purchase. It will also acquire IT&T'S Facility Management business by buying out IT&T Technology Services Ltd., a subsidiary of IT&T. The acquisition is subject to approval of Mascot's Board of Directors, terms and conditions of agreement, and other statutory and regulatory approvals as may be applicable.

The BPO business will come to Mascot for a cash consideration of Rs 188.81 million (approximately US$3.95 million) while the Facility Management business will cost Rs 23.9 Million (approximately US$0.5 million). Mascot will acquire the customers and prospects of IT&T across the United States and Europe. As part of the deal, the vastly experienced executive management team will become part of the Mascot Group and drive the day-to-day business.

The acquisition of the BPO business will be done through Mascot's proposed BPO subsidiary, currently under formation. The Facility Management business, an over 200-people business, which caters to the domestic market, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Mascot. Further details of the transaction will be shared after approval of Mascot's Board of Directors.

The acquisition is in line with Mascot's earlier strategy

to enter the BPO space. The acquisition is expected to enhance the company's services portfolio and enable it to rapidly establish a presence in the BPO space in a relatively cost-effective manner so that the company can leverage its own strengths and global resources to ramp up the acquired business.

IT&T'S domain expertise, proven team and operating experience in Customer Relationship Management, Affinity Marketing and Helpdesk Support will enrich the suite of services offered by Mascot and enable it to provide its clients a complete range of IT services and solutions. Mascot has plans to rapidly scale-up the acquired business - both, financially and operationally - over the coming two years by building upon Mascot's established strengths and competencies.

According to Gartner Group estimates, the global BPO market is expected to reach $234 billion by 2005. NASSCOM and McKinsey have recently increased their projections for the Indian IT Enabled Services market in 2008 to $21 billion from the $18 billion earlier.