BPO firm WNS Holdings on Thursday announced that it has acquired South Africa-based Fusion Outsourcing Services in an all cash deal of over ?10 million or $15.5 million. With this acquisition, WNS plans to expand its presence in emerging markets and strengthen its voice-based services.
BPO company Fusion, which provides services including contact centre and customer care to both local and international clients, has operations in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Fusion currently employs about 1,500 people. WNS recently collaborated with Fusion to service one of its largest UK-based clients with voice services. The centre currently offers high-end voice services with plans to start financial, accounting and insurance services. The acquisition is projected to add $9-10 million for WNS in fiscal 2013, the company noted.
?Expanding our global delivery footprint and entering emerging growth markets are key pillars of our investment strategy. WNS has several existing and prospective clients interested in having services delivered from South Africa to take advantage of the English language capabilities, skilled talent pool and strong cultural work ethic,? said Keshav Murugesh, CEO at WNS.
?In the long term, we view this growing economy as an exciting end-market user of global BPO services, especially in the areas of finance and accounting and insurance-specific services,? he said.
The deal is expected to be funded with cash on hand, with about half of the amount paid at completion and the remainder payable in tranches, said WNS. The NYSE-listed BPO firm in February, completed a primary and secondary offering in the US markets, where it raised $50 million for the company and $63 million for its major shareholder Warburg Pincus. The company earlier said that it proposes to use the bulk of the proceeds from the primary offering for expanding its delivery footprint and for new technology platforms and to create new global delivery centres.
As part of global expansion, in May, WNS launched its first US delivery centre in the city of Columbia in South Carolina. The new US centre has a capacity for 300 seats. The initial investment for the center is expected to be between $4 million and $5 million.