Saturday, December 8, 2007

Infosys makes USD 80 mn pitch for Aviva`s BPO units

IT major Infosys is scounting for UK-based Aviva`s offshoring centres in Bangalore and Colombo as well as its two Pune facilities that are currently operated by WNS and EXL under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model, reports Economic Times.

The deal is expected to be in the range of USD 75-80 million.

The Colombo and Bangalore units are now run by Aviva Global Services (AGS)—Aviva`s global BPO and IT offshoring arm. The two Pune facilities were to be transferred to AGS in January 2008. But Aviva, UK`s largest insurance provider, recently deferred its decision to repossess the centres by a quarter to April 2008.

Besides Infosys, WNS, EXL and 24X7 Customer are reportedly in the race to acquire the centres.

But Infosys` (India`s second-largest software and services firm) interest stems from its strategy to strengthen its capabilities in the insurance vertical. This July, Infosys signed USD 250-million outsourcing contract with consumer electronics company Royal Phillips. This included a USD 28-million sale of the Dutch company`s outsourcing centres in Poland, India and Thailand.

AGS also operates centres in Norwich and York in the UK. EXL and 24X7 Customer are expected to manage BOT centres for Aviva in Noida and Chennai respectively till 2008. AGS and the BOT units together employ about 8,700 people in India and Sri Lanka.

Aviva took over the operations of the 24X7 Customer BOT centre in Bangalore, which employed around 1,600 employees, in the beginning of this year. In July, it took over the 300-people Colombo centre managed by WNS.

The banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) vertical contributes over 40% to Indian BPO firms` revenue. Revenue from offshore insurance BPO services alone is slated to rise to about USD 2 billion by 2010.

Shares of the company gained Rs 83.25 , or 5.09% to settle at Rs 1718.15. The total volume of shares traded was 500,945 at the BSE.(Friday ).

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