INDIA BUSINESS WORLD SEPTEMBER (16th - 30th) 2007
The Month that was ...
USHA MARTIN BUYS BRITISH BPO FIRM
The Jhawars of the $750-million Usha Martin Group have acquired the UK-based BPO Converso Contact Centres for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is aimed at spearheading the group's plans to accelerate its BPO operations in India, South Africa and the UK.
A statement issued by Usha Martin said the acquisition would create additional 1,400 new jobs in India and South Africa. Converso Contact Centres provides both inbound and outbound call handling services across sectors like finance, utilities, manufacturing, leisure, IT, telecom and retail.
"Our strategy is to continually develop and diversify our business operations globally and we see the BPO market as having high growth potential. To exploit this opportunity, we are investing in both new and existing international locations and plan to build facilities for a total of 2,000 contact centre seats globally," Usha Martin group vice-chairman Prashant Jhawar said.
Incidentally, the Usha Martin group already owns two IT/ITeS firms -UshaComm and Eppixcomm, which operate in the telecom, broadband/IP, cable, and satellite markets across the US, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.
"This acquisition will ensure close synergy between Ushacomm, Eppixcomm and Converso and add to the delivery of end-to-end customer care, billing and other back office services to customers," the release said.
"We looked at a number of potential targets in the UK. However, Converso's impressive client list, strong financial services pedigree and an entrepreneurial spirit closely matched our own business culture," Usha Martin director (M&A) Nalin Tikkoo said.
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