Essar sells BPO company Aegis for USD 275-300 mn

New Delhi, April 3 :  The Essar Group on Monday announced the sale of its business process outsourcing company Aegis to Singapore-based Capital Square Partners for $260-300 million.

"AGC Holdings Limited (AGC) Mauritius, a wholly-owned portfolio company of Essar Global Limited, has entered into a definitive agreement with Capital Square Partners to sell 100 per cent of its stake for an undisclosed amount in ESM Holdings Limited, Mauritius, which is the holding company of Aegis, a major global outsourcing company," a statement by Essar said here.

According to sources close to the development, the amount for which Essar sold Aegis was around $260-300 million.

The transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2017-18, subject to receiving regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

This marks Essar Global's complete exit from the BPO business. Net proceeds of this sale will be used to retire Essar's debt, the statement added.

"This transaction is in line with our strategy of incubating, building and operating world-class businesses, and being open to monetising them at a premium value when the market conditions are favourable," said Uday Gujadhur, Director, AGC.

Essar entered the BPO business in 2004 with the acquisition of the US-based Aegis Communications Group, with 2,000 employees.

In 2014, AGC announced the successful sale of Aegis USA Inc (comprising Aegis' operations in the US, the Philippines and Costa Rica) to Teleperformance. 

Currently, Aegis has revenues of around $400 million, and employs more than 40,000 people across 47 centres in 10 countries with operations in India, the UAE, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Australia, South Africa, Peru, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and the UK. 

"Aegis has established itself as a high value service provider to its customers. We shall continue to provide quality service to our esteemed customers and be an employer of choice," said Sandip Sen, Managing Director, Aegis. 

"I am confident that the added capabilities of our new shareholder will present an even more compelling value proposition to the marketplace," said Sen.

"The Essar group has built this company and achieved significant scale and value creation, and we look forward to continue to build on the core values of customer focus, agility and service excellence of Aegis," Sanjay Chakrabarty and Mukesh Sharda, Managing Partners of CSP, said jointly.

Capital Square Partners is a private equity fund manager based in Singapore, and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Essar's advisors in the transaction include Axis Capital as financial advisor, and Platinum Partners and Sidley Austin as legal advisors. 

Shearman and Sterling and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas acted as legal advisors to CSP.