Accentia Tech acquires 3 US BPOs for Rs 80 crore

MUMBAI: Mumbai-Based business process outsourcing company Accentia Technologies has acquired three US-based healthcare BPO companies for about Rs 80 crore, sources close to the deal said. It bought Florida-based GSR Physician Billing Inc and GSR Systems Inc and Oregon-based medical transcription services provider DenMed Inc, in cash-cum-stock deals.

Confirming the development, Accentia director Pradeep Viswambharan said the stock portion of the deals would be issued in the form of global depository receipts.

Sources said the company plans to go in for a $15-million GDR issue to be listed in Singapore. This issue would involve raising cash of $2.5 million and issuing GDRs worth $12.5 million to the promoters of the acquired firms.On Tuesday, the shares of Accentia Technologies rose by 5%, or the maximum gain allowed in a day, to Rs 221.90 on the BSE.

London-based investment banking firm Athena Capital Partners and First Global India are advising the company in the listing and US acquisition deal. The company expects to acquire two more companies in healthcare outsourcing by the end of this fiscal, the sources said.

Mr Viswambharan said that the acquisitions would add to the company’s portfolio in the healthcare receivable cycle management. “The case in US is that 49% of the transcription, coding, billing and collection work in the healthcare space is outsourced to US-based service companies by US hospitals and of that only 1% work is offshored to India making entry barriers in the sector extremely difficult. But since the three companies have 60-65 clients each with long-terms contracts, we would be in better place to penetrate the market that is valued nearly $2.2 trillion,” he said.

While the GSR group companies have revenues of $3 million each, DenMed had revenues of $1.5 million. The company expects to add nearly $10 million to its topline by way of these acquisitions.