WNS fixes public offer price of its stake at $12.75/ADS

NEW DELHI: BPO firm WNS today fixed the issue price of its American depository shares, held by private equity firm Warburg Pincus, at USD 12.75 a piece, taking the offer size to USD 185.12 million.

Last week, Warburg Pincus had announced that it plans to sell its entire holding of over 14.5 million American depository shares (ADS') in the NYSE-listed WNS.

"WNS today announced pricing of the previously announced underwritten public offering of 12,625,343 ADSs by Warburg Pincus at a price to the public of USD 12.75 per ADS," WNS said in a statement.

Warburg Pincus has also granted the underwriters of the offering a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,893,801 ADSs, representing 15 per cent of the total offering size, to cover over-allotments, if any, it added.

ADS are US dollar denominated securities of a foreign company listed on a US stock exchange.

Calculated on the basis of the price quoted by WNS, the offering (which includes the public offer of 12.6 million ADS' and additional 1.9 million ADS') could mop up funds to the tune of USD 185.12 million.

The offering is expected to close on or about February 15, 2013, subject to customary closing conditions, the statement said.

"WNS will not receive any proceeds from the sale of ADSs by Warburg Pincus in the offering. Assuming the over allotment option is exercised in full by the underwriters, Warburg Pincus will have no remaining shareholdings in WNS following the offering," WNS said.

BofA Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo Securities are acting as joint book-running managers, while, Baird, William Blair and Janney Montgomery Scott are acting as co-managers for the offering.

Warburg Pincus had acquired a controlling stake in WNS from British Airways in May 2002. Last year, it reduced its stake from 48 per cent to 29 per cent through a USD 110 million secondary public float priced at USD 9.25 apiece.

WNS net profit for the October-December quarter stood at USD 6.1 million, while revenues were at USD 120.2 million.

Among the country's leading pure-play BPO providers, WNS had 25,931 employees across 31 delivery centres including India, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the UK and the US as on December 31, 2012.