EXLservice, the country’s fourth largest BPO, saw its decade-old private equity investor, Oak hill Capital Partners, making an exit recently. Rohit Kapoor, chief executive officer and vice chairman of the BPO, says the sector has seen its ups and downs. Exlservice had been preparing for this transition exit for a long time and Oak Hill had been providing support to the BPO to become a fully independent company. With PE funds, which are typically long term investors with patient pools of capital looking at a mid-teen return profile, the BPO space continues to be an attractive sector, says Kapoor.
Going forward, EXL is looking at small and mid-sized acquisitions in the technology platform space as it builds on a string of pearls acquisition strategy to expand its business. The debt-free company has around $100 million in cash.
EXL, whose Europe business had shrunk to less than 20 per cent revenues in 2008 after losing its biggest client Aviva to rival WNS Global Services, has now built back its business in the continent despite the poor economic environment. In an exclusive interaction with VCCircle, Kapoor talks about the recent exit of its PE partner Oak Hill Capital Partners from the company, the ownership structure of EXLservice and the company’s plans ahead. Edited excerpts:
