Blackstone, Genpact Bid For Stake In WNS: Report
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Blackstone, Genpact Bid For Stake In WNS: Report

By TEAM VCC

  • 14 Sep 2009

Private equity firm Blackstone and Genpact Ltd have bid around $300 million for Warburg Pincus' controlling stake in outsourcing firm WNS Holdings Ltd, the Economic Times reported on Monday.

Warburg Pincus expects at least $400 million for its 50.12 percent holding in WNS and will decide on the sale next week, the newspaper said, citing two people familiar with the development.

Officials at WNS and the private equity firms could not be immediately reached for comment.

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Last month, WNS said it had received expressions of interest on possible change of control, but had not yet entered into any definitive agreement.

The Economic Times said the WNS stake would help Blackstone increase its revenue from back-office operations in India, while call centre service provider Genpact was also keen on the deal to reduce dependency on business from General Electric.

VCCircle adds: The acquisition of WNS will help Blackstone increase its revenues from back-office operations in India. The company already owns a stake in a similar company. It bought 80% stake in Intelenet Global Services in 2007, which does back-office work for banks such as UK’s Barclays.

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Meanwhile, Genpact is also keen on the deal since the acquisition will reduce its dependency on General Electric (GE) for revenues that contributes 40% to Genpact’s revenues.

Reports suggest that apart from Apax and Bain, several other potential investors pulled out of the deal after a surge in the stock price (around 35%) of WNS when its plan to sell stake became public.

Besides Warbug Pincus, the other shareholders in the company are Nalanda India Fund (12.22%), Columbia Wagmer Asset Management, L.P (9.98%), FMR LLC (9.43%) and Tiger Global Management (6.6%). 

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Other players in the fray include IT and BPO companies including ExlServices, HCL Technologies, Wipro, Cognizant and Quatrro, and PE players like Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) and Carlyle. 

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