Infosys linked to buyout talks for UK's Sage

Infosys Technologies is in the thick of yet another European buy-out rumour --this time involving the UK-based Sage Group.British publications have reported that Sage's stock price on the London Stock Exchange went up on Tuesday on talk that Infosys, CapGemini orsoftware giant Microsoft may be interested in acquiring the company.

The publications said that a couple of institutions picked up shares in Sage even as retail investors in the Britain were rushing out of banking-related stocks following the run on Northern Rock bank.

Headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, the Sage Group is a supplier of accounting, payroll, CRM and business management software for large, medium and small size enterprises.

Read more in The Times of India article.

Genpact, 2 others in race for Citi BPO unit

Citigroup has shortlisted three bidders for its business process outsourcing (BPO) unit after the first round of bidding.

The sale of the BPO business, run by Citigroup Global Services (formerly e-Serve), is expected to fetch around Rs 3,200 crore for the group. At this price, it will be the largest deal in the domestic BPO space.

The shortlisted bidders are Firstsource, WNS and Genpact, said sources close to the development. Others who had expressed initial interest, including IBM, Automatic Data Processing (ADS), Infosys, EDS, Capgemini and private equity players such as Blackstone and General Atlantic, are no longer in the race.

The largest major deal in the BPO space so far was when Blackstone recently bought Intelenet from Barclays and HDFC for Rs 840 crore.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Infosys scrip surges 2% on BSE over takeover news

Shares of country’s leading software exporter Infosys surged as much as 2.54% on the Bombay Stock Exchange after media reports that the software behemoth is planning to bid for European consultancy firm Capgemini.

Infosys scrip opened firm at Rs 1,951 and rallied ahead to touch a high of Rs 1,975 in early trading on the BSE, gaining as much as Rs 49.10 over its previous close.
However, the scrip of the company parted with some gains and was later trading at Rs 1952.30 at 10.34 am on BSE and over 68,000 shares got exchanged in early trade.
Yesterday, the French firm Capgemini’s scrip surged more than 4% on the Paris bourse over reports that Infosys Technologies is planning to acquire a stake in the company to expand its global presence.

Infosys has a market value of nearly $27 billion, while Capgemini has a market capitalisation of about 10 billion dollars (7.7 billion euro).

WNS, Accenture join race for Citi`s BPO arm

The race for Citigroup Global Services, the business process outsourcing arm (BPO) of Citigroup is hotting up with the entry of the BPO firm WNS and consultancy firm Accenture.

Sources close to the development said these were the latest entrants into the fray. The list of suitors includes IBM, Automatic Data Processing (ADS), Infosys, EDS, Genpact, Capgemini and private equity players such as Blackstone and General Atlantic. A Citigroup spokesperson declined to comment.

Although there was no official confirmation on the impending sale of Citigroup’s business processing arm, sources in the know said Citi might receive Rs 3,000 crore from divesting this non-core area of its business.

Sources said Citigroup might sell 80 per cent stake in the BPO firm currently and pull out at the time of listing after divestment. Citigroup might induct a strategic partner for the BPO arm, they added.

Citigroup Global Services, which changed its name from e-Serve in November, employs close to 8,000 people in Mumbai and Chennai.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Citi to exit, captive BPO units no longer attractive

The captive outsourcing story is turning sour .. or so it appears with the latest market buzz that Citigroup is on its way to pull out of its local business process outsourcing (BPO) unit Citigroup Global Services (formerly eServe).

While Citigroup continues to maintain that "the bank's policy is not to respond to market speculation," industry sources say "it makes logical sense for Citigroup to exit the business since it's not core to its operations".

The BPO currently has close to 8,000 people spread over two centres in Mumbai and Chennai. Some of the names floating to acquire the business include IBM, Automatic Data Processing (ADS), Infosys, EDS, Genpact, Capgemini and private equity players like Blackstone and General Atlantic.

When contacted, Genpact denied comment saying that it is in silent period. While IBM and Capgemini, too, maintained the no-comment stance, a senior Capgemini official, on condition of anonymity, said: "We have studied Citi Global services, it seems to be a decent company and has a good set up." The official, however, was concerned about the valuation of the Citi's BPO arm, which market rumours pegged at $1-1.2 billion.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Capgemini sets up financial services unit in Pune

Capgemini, a technology and outsourcing services company, today announced the formation of its financial services strategic business unit (FS SBU) in Pune.Evolving from the recent acquisition of Kanbay International Inc, the unit is a significant contribution to Capgemini's expanding footprints in India.

Salil Parekh, executive chairman, Capgemini India, said the new unit will increase the company's global network of financial services professionals to 14,000 employees.

As part of the growth plan for the FS SBU, Capgemini will increase its investment in training and development of the professionals, a company release said here.

It has revamped its training and development centre in Pune. The centre has a 152,000 sq foot state-of-the-art training facility located within the FS SBU campus at Talwade near Pune.