Canadian alternative investment firm Brookfield Asset Management Inc. has agreed to acquire a majority stake in private equity firm Everstone Capital’s business process outsourcing platform Everise.
The Canadian investor will make the acquisition through its publicly traded unit Brookfield Business Partners, the firms said in a statement. They didn’t disclose the deal size. However, multiple media reports pegged the deal value at $450 million (Rs 3,320 crore at current exchange rates).
This is the second transaction between Brookfield and Everstone. Earlier this year, Everstone gave up control of non-bank lender Indostar Capital Finance Ltd by selling most of its stake to Brookfield.
Singapore-headquartered Everstone had set up Everise in 2016 in a partnership with Sunrise BPO and its CEO Sudhir Agarwal after acquiring C3, a US-based BPO platform, from PE firm Stone Point Capital.
Agarwal, who is now Everise’s chief executive officer, will continue in the role even after the Brookfield deal.
Over the years Everise has diversified from a pure-play call centre business into an end-to-end vendor of customer experience management and digital services. Currently, the platform offers services in healthcare, emerging technology and smart home segments with customers primarily in the US.
Everise has registered accelerating revenues and profitability through a combination of organic and inorganic growth in digital segments, said Sameer Sain, co-founder and chief executive officer of Everstone Group.
Aditya Joshi, senior vice president at Brookfield Business Partners, said: Everise is a “high-quality customer experience solutions provider” with deep domain capabilities in healthcare and technology verticals. “Its strong management team and differentiated business model positions the company well for further global growth.”
Everstone owns significant stakes in other IT services companies such as Servion, which is a customer experience service provider; Omega Healthcare, an offshore healthcare revenue cycle management business servicing the US healthcare industry; and Infostretch, a pure-play digital engineering services firm headquartered in the US.
The PE firm invested in Omega Healthcare and Infostretch over the last 12 months.
Everstone has also been making exits from companies in sectors other than technology. Earlier this month, its portfolio company Burger King India Ltd floated an initial public offering which got a bumper response from investors.
The PE firm is selling a minority stake in the IPO, and offloaded additional shares ahead of the public offering, VCCircle reported last week.
Separately, Everstone said on Sunday that it had acquired a majority stake in Calibre Chemicals.
