Ayala eyes BPO cos with India presence

Collaboration in the BPO space is happening from an unexpected direction as countries which could be even lower cost than India are muscling onto the scene. The Philippines-based Ayala Corporation is targeting acquisition of BPO companies with a presence in India to leverage the strength of the two countries, which is presence of large numbers of English-speaking people.

LiveIt Solutions CEO Fred Ayala told ET by telephone from Manila that they were also considering investing in the Indian real estate sector. He declined to comment further on this sector since he does not handle the diversified corporation’s real estate business.

LiveIt Solutions is the $8.2 billion Ayala Corporation’s holding company for investments in the BPO sector.
Having recently attended that Nasscom meet in Mumbai, Mr Ayala pointed to the emerging trend of greater cooperation between the two countries.

“There is great complementarity between India and the Philippines, with Nasscom and the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) having formed a partnership to market outsourcing services to global markets. The other trend is of more Philippines’ companies acquiring Indian companies and vice versa. There has been a steady stream of Indian companies coming to the Philippines, including Hinduja TMT, IBM Daksh, Genpact and Infosys, which has a partner here,” Mr Ayala said.

Referring to their first acquisition in India, the October 2006 acquisition of Integreon, and the December 2006 acquisition of Affinity Express, Mr Ayala said they will open the Manila offices for both by mid 2007.

“The Integreon and Affinity Express sites in the Philippines will become operational by mid 2007, starting with a couple of hundred people each. The pace of expansion will depend on customers but it could reach 1,000 people by end of 2008 or earlier,” he said.

“We are definitely looking at add-on acquisitions in India for both verticals and for a third investment, for eTelecare, a voice based company,” he added.

eTelecare is now LiveIt’s primary investment in customer care, through which LiveIt will acquire or invest in companies that provide voice and non-voice services. Mr Ayala said they have had discussions with an Indian customer for eTelecare’s services, adding that other sectors they are weighing are healthcare and financial services.