Dell may sell its BPO biz

Intelenet and Blackstone seem to have joined the race to acquire Dell’s non-US BPO business, which is on the block.Interestingly, even as Dell maintains that it was not contemplating any such move, sources said that Intelenet (which was recently acquired by Blackstone) and Blackstone itself as a standalone buy-out fund have evinced interest in acquiring the unit. Besides, these two, the other names going around in the market are Wipro and Accenture which have shown interest to acquire the PC makers unit.

Sources said the world’s second-largest PC maker has put its contact centres across India, Philippines, El Salvador in South America and Canada on the block. The valuation of the business could be anything upwards of $3 billion, sources said.

Read more in The Times of India article.

Blackstone's $109 Investment In Intelenet BPO Holding Company Cleared

Blackstone's proposal to invest Rs 447.2 crore ($109 million) in an operating and holding firm SKR BPO Services has been approved by India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). SKR BPO is a recently formed vehicle which has carried out the management buyout of Intelenet BPO. Blackstone GVP Capital, Mauritius, and the Intelenet management own the company jointly.

Blackstone is believed to be holding about 80 per cent stake in the company. Blackstone's capital infusion will also be used to "make further downstream investment by way of acquisition of existing shares".' SKR has made an open offer for 20 per cent of shares in the publicly listed Sparsh BPO, in which Intelenet holds 51 per cent stake.This would cost SKR BPO about Rs 64.59 crore, as it plans to acquire 3.23 million shares at an offer price of Rs 200 per share.

Blackstone buys Gokaldas Exports

Global private equity giant Blackstone Group is acquiring majority control in Gokaldas Exports for nearly Rs 660 crore, in the country’s largest management buyout in the textiles industry.

Blackstone will acquire a 70 per cent stake in Gokaldas through a two-step deal — 50 per cent from the Bangalore-based Hinduja family and 20 per cent through an open offer to other shareholders. Kotak Investment Bank was the advisor to the transaction and is the manager for the open offer.The deal will price one share of Gokaldas Exports at Rs 275, a 20 per cent premium over today’s close of Rs 228.70.

This is Blackstone’s third major deal this year, the other two being a $275 million investment in Ushodaya Enterprises, which runs the Eenadu newspaper and ETV franchise, and a management buy-out of BPO firm Intelenet from Barclays and HDFC for Rs 840 crore.

Akhil Gupta, CMD of Blackstone Advisors India, said his company was attracted by the growth potential of Gokaldas. “With the abolition of the quota regime, the potential of Indian textiles exporters is huge,” he added.He said Blackstone would restructure the Gokaldas board after the open offer.

Read more in The Business Standard 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.