Genpact has emerged victorious in the race to buy Citigroup's BPO captive, in a deal worth $700m, according to an Indian media report. The Indian media has for some time now been following the lead-up to this deal, but nobody official has yet to confirm the Genpact buy.
If the report is correct, however, the deal would give Genpact clear standing as the Indian BPO leader. It has some 30,000 employees globally, including more than 20,000 across India. The Citi captive would give it another 10,000 employees in India. And the captive’s revenues, estimated to be about $200m this year, would add substantially to the $613m that Genpact reported in 2006.
The article in the Times of India states that the deal came down to Genpact and fellow Indian BPO player Firstsource. It reports that both firms submitted bids in the $700m range, but that Genpact had better financing for the transaction.
This account of the deal’s final hours is quite different than a report last week from the Eocnomic Times, another Indian publication. This article states that the bidding was down to Genpact, Indian BPO outfit WNS, and Citigroup Venture Capital, the bank’s own private equity group. It said Firstsource had bowed out of the bidding, having just paid $330m for US health care outsourcer MedAssist.
The same article, as well as earlier reports, said Citi would retain a 20% stake in the captive, but this part of the deal is still unknown, according to the Times of India article.