Bangalore-based Infosys BPO Ltd, the business process outsourcing arm of Infosys Ltd, has signed a definitive agreement to buy all outstanding shares of Australia’s Portland Group Pty Ltd for AU$37 million or $36.76 million (Rs 198 crore), the company has said in a statement today.
Portland Group’s expertise in strategic sourcing and category management services is expected to complement Infosys BPO’s global sourcing and procurement capabilities which will positively impact clients’ business efficiency and effectiveness, the company commented on the acquisition.
The acquisition is expected to be completed by early January 2012.
Incorporated in 1999, Portland offers strategic sourcing and category management services and has several large Australian stock exchange-listed firms as clients. The company reported revenue of approximately AU$31.3 million ($31.1 million or Rs 167 crore) for the fiscal ended June 30, 2011. It has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.
This means the deal values the company at 1.2x its FY11 revenues.
“This acquisition would significantly deepen our capabilities and domain expertise in our sourcing and procurement practice. This will also strengthen the top-end of our service offering in the strategic sourcing and category management functions,” said Swaminathan D, CEO & MD of Infosys BPO.
Incorporated in April 2002, Infosys BPO is the subsidiary of Infosys Ltd with operations across India, China, the Philippines, the Czech Republic, Poland, Mexico, the USA and Brazil. As on September 30, 2011, the company employed around 20,620 people.
The current deal comes two years after Infosys BPO acquired US-based insurance BPO firm McCamish Systems for a similar deal value. Incidentally, at that time, too, Infosys BPO valued the target at around 1x its previous year’s revenues.
In November 2011, Warburg Pincus-backed outsourcing firm WNS (Holdings) Ltd entered into an agreement with Paxys, Inc., its joint venture partner in WNS Philippines, Inc., to acquire the latter’s 35 per cent stake in the JV for an undisclosed sum.
