UK's Serco buys Intelenet for Rs. 2,800 cr

MUMBAI, INDIA: UK-based services firm Serco announced on Tuesday that it is acquiring Intelenet, a provider of business process outsourcing (BPO) services to the private sector around the world and in the domestic Indian market, for up to £385 million (around Rs 2,800 crore).

Intelenet, which has operations in 34 global delivery centres across seven countries, provides a broad range of middle and back office services and has a strong customer base of international organisations, predominantly across the financial services, travel, healthcare and telecom sectors.

“The acquisition of Intelenet supports our ambitions as a leading global service company,” said Chris Hyman, chief executive of Serco.

“The international BPO market is growing quickly as companies seek out new ways to improve their service and reduce costs. Intelenet's high value capabilities and customer base, together with its economies of scale, means we can access new markets and strengthen our existing propositions,” he said.

Serco said this acquisition is in line with its strategy which is focused on driving organic growth, supplemented by strategic acquisitions of skills and capabilities to enter new markets and sectors where they see strong opportunities to enhance our growth and margins.

Susir Kumar, chief executive of Intelenet Global Services, said, “We are excited to become part of the Serco family which is strategically aligned to our business. Becoming part of Serco will propel us to our next phase of growth, by helping us to address a wider market and to provide more end-to-end solutions.”

Founded in 2001 as a joint venture between TCS and HDFC, later Blackstone Group took majority stake in Intelenet, after completing a management buy-out in 2007.

Serco said the acquisition will be fully funded from Serco’s debt facilities.

For the year to 31 March 2011, Intelenet’s revenue was approximately £170m and adjusted operating profit was £19 million.