Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) firm Integreon said it plans to acquire a captive unit in the banking space as demand for high-end services picks up with existing clients. This would be largely funded from the fresh capital worth $50 million raised by the firm on Tuesday, through issue of additional shares, from private equity player Actis. Besides Philippine conglomerate Ayala, which holds more than 50% stake in Integreon, Actis would now be the second largest investor with more than 25% stake. As part of this investment, JM Trivedi, Actis head of south Asia, and Gautham Radhakrishnan, a director at Actis, will join Integreon?s board of directors. Lokendra Tomar, COO, Asia Pacific, Integreon, said, ?A captive unit would bring in guaranteed work as well as high-end capabilities like proprietary work which is in demand with our clients across corporations, law firms and banks.?
Tomar added that the firm was expecting a number of captives to come up for sale and the firm is looking forward to initiate discussions then. He added that the firm would ideally make an acquisition below the $50 million as it has been doing in its prior deals. The firm also plans to raise additional funds if required from the two existing investors. Last year, it acquired Grail Research, the captive arm of Monitor Group and e-Discovery services firm (Onsite3) for about $40 million.
Tomar also said the firm plans to invest in technologies like litigation support platform, improving global workflow technology and individually in solution groups like research, legal, document and business services. He added that the firm would hire 600 people in the coming year, of which about 400 would be based out of India. The privately-held Integreon currently employs around 2,000 people, of which 1,200 are based in India. It has approximately $ 90 million in revenues as of the year ended December 2009.