UAE-based private equity firm Gulf Capital has exited its five-year old debt investment in business process outsourcing (BPO) company iSon Xperiences, days after it got acquired by African private equity firms Verod Capital and AfricInvest.
Gulf Capital and Tunisia-based AfricInvest Group had collectively invested around $50 million in iSON in 2018 for growth and working capital purposes. Gulf Capital had made an around $25 million worth of debt investment, while an equal sum was deployed by AfricInvest as equity investment.
“We are pleased to announce our successful exit from Ison Xperiences. Our investment in iSON allowed us to achieve superior risk-adjusted returns for our investors over our five-year holding period,” said Christopher Foll, senior managing director at Gulf Capital.
Ison, which has operations spread across Africa and the UAE, completed three bolt-on acquisitions over the last five years and strategically diversified its customer base and industry exposure. Led by global CEO Pravin Kumar, the BPO firm’s revenue has grown 60% during the period under review.
“Our collaboration paved the way for Ison to undertake strategic acquisitions, extend its geographical footprint to regions like Egypt and South Africa diversify clientele and augment its product suite. It now generates around 50% of its revenue from new countries since Gulf Capital’s initial investment and backing,” said the PE firm.
Gulf Capital had provided debt capital to the BPO through its $251 million Gulf Credit Opportunities Fund II. Over the last one year, it has exited key investments, including food distribution company Chef Middle East for $10 million.
It also exited Global Olive Oil Producer CHO Group. Some other exits include Metito Holdings, a water and wastewater management solutions provider last m onth after 17-years through the sale of a majority stake to Alpha Dhabi Holding.
Gulf Capital currently manages over $2.3 billion in assets across seven funds. It has closed 45 investments since 2006, with a focus on five broad sectors- technology and fintech, healthcare, business services, consumer, and sustainability.
Last week, Verod Capital and AfricInvest partnered to acquire a majority stake iSON, with the additional capital aimed to enable the BPO company to accelerate its growth and expand its geographical footprint.
Set up in 2010, iSON Xperiences offers BPO, business process management, and digital customer experience solutions in the countries where it operates and serves over 500 million end-users spanning diverse sectors such as telecom, financial services, energy & utilities, media & entertainment, aviation, retail, and e-commerce.
It employs over 18,000 individuals across 19 countries, including 16 in Africa.
