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ICICI OneSource buys another US firm

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CIOL Bureau
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BANGALORE: Inorganic growth is the order of the day. Atleast for third party BPO service provider in India, ICICI OneSource Ltd., which is in the process of establishing firm footholds in the US.



Barely a month after the company acquired Chicago, US based research and consulting firm, Pipal Research Corporation, it has completed the acquisition of New York based consumer collections agency, Account Solutions Group, LLC (ASG).



ASG specializes in third party debt collections and its clients include three of the Top 10 credit card issuers in the United States. ASG currently operates two centers in Buffalo, New York and has over 500 employees. Its revenues for the year ended December 31st 2003 stood at $25.14 million.



Its proven expertise is backed by a strong management team with more than 50 years of collective experience in the financial/banking industries. The acquisition will add late stage collections capability to ICICI OneSource's service offering. Collections approximately represent a US $16 billion opportunity in the United States alone.



Ananda Mukerji, Managing Director and CEO, ICICI OneSource said, "The acquisition is in line with our strategy to aggressively expand our service offering and continuously deliver value to our clients. We have identified collections as a high growth area and this acquisition gives us a platform from which to offer the most complete collections solution to our clients. We can now offer a full suite of collections capabilities: customer acquisition, billing, customer service and collections."



Tony Frisicaro, President & CEO, ASG, "We set up ASG nine years ago and since then our actions have always been dictated by the best interests of our employees, our clients and the long-term interests of our business. Today, we are delighted to become part of the ICICI OneSource family. We have taken ASG to a juncture where it will benefit greatly from ICICI OneSource's financial strength and expertise. ICICI OneSource's client relationships with FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies will help us grow aggressively from this point on."



ICICI OneSource announced that Tony Frisicaro would head the Collections business for the company globally. There would be no change in the management structure of ASG and all 500 employees would continue with their current jobs. This acquisition is expected to create additional employment opportunities in the US, especially in Western New York.



Advisory firm Kaulkin Ginsberg Company advised the shareholders of Account Solutions Group while ICICI OneSource was advised by Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., Inc.

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