Essar Group's BPO unit Aegis close to buying two more firms

MUMBAI: Essar Group's Aegis is close to acquiring two companies, its chief executive officer Sandip Sen said. The move demonstrates the country's third-largest standalone BPO firm's continued buying appetite. While one of the targets will be from Britain, the company did not divulge the geographical location of the other firm, which will be in the non-voice category.

The targets are in the areas of finance, accounting or human resources, he said, declining to provide further details. Sen was speaking on the sidelines of Nasscom's India Leadership Forum in Mumbai.

Only recently, Aegis announced it had agreed to buy Malaysia's Symphony, a deal that is expected to close in the next two months.

Aegis is seeing increased demand in its markets, Sen said, and is also looking to hire aggressively in the next fiscal.

"We have just completed our budgeting exercise and we are looking to hire 4,500 people in India and over 4,000 people in our onshore and nearshore centres," Sen said.

Aegis has been growing its onshore business. The company employs about 5,000 people in the United States and another 7,000 in Latin America.

It is winning business in countries such as Spain by creating offshore centres in Peru. The Peru centre now employs 700 people, Sen said.

"If they are looking to expand non-voice it could have a beneficial impact on the margins," a BPO sector analyst said. The analyst does not track Aegis as a company because it is unlisted.

Last year, Standard & Poor's estimated Aegis' operating margin to be 10-12%. Sen, who joined Aegis in December 2012, has been specifically tasked with growing higher-margin businesses.