In one of the larger deals in the business process outsourcing (BPO) space in India, Aegis BPO, a part of the over $50 billion Essar Group, has signed an agreement to acquire the Los Angeles-based PeopleSupport Inc. The all cash deal is valued at $250 million for a 100% stake in Peoplesupport. Post this deal, Aegis will have operations in the Philippines and Costa Rica, along with India and the US, where it already has delivery centers.

Last month, WNS (Holdings) had acquired Aviva Global Services (AGS), the BPO arm of the insurer Aviva, for $228 million. The deal is expected to be completed in the next two to three months. Aegis, which has annual revenues of about $320 million, is expecting to see a turnover of about $500 million by 2010, post the merger.

Aegis said that it will pay $12.5 per share of the Nasdaq-listed PeopleSupport and the transaction will be funded through Essar Group?s internal resources. ?It?s the largest deal for Aegis and through its centers in Costa Rica, we will be able to tap the Spanish market as well. We also did not have a presence in the Philippines and thus with this, we will get an access to the South-East Asian nation. This deal will help us to expand immensely and strengthen our global foothold,? commented Aparup Sengupta, CEO & managing director, Aegis BPO.

Post this deal, Aegis will also add travel and transportation segment to its offering. ?The acquisition will also expand our services portfolio and would include travel and transportation. We will also add the 15 clients belonging to PeopleSupport,? said Sengupta.

The combined entity will have around 29,000 employees, with Peoplesupport having around 8,500 employees and Aegis with its 20,000 employee strength.

?With this merger, we will have around 29,000 employees and we will be retaining all the current employees from Peoplesupport,? said Sengupta.