US-headquartered BPO firm Sutherland Global Services said it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100 per cent stake of Apollo Health Street Ltd (AHS), a provider of healthcare business services and health information technology-based (HIT) solutions. Apollo Health Street is backed by private equity firms One Equity Partners and Temasek Holdings.
The deal size was not disclosed, though. The transaction is expected to be closed by February 2013, subject to customary regulatory and other conditions.
Apollo Health Street is an associate of Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd, which holds around 40 per cent stake in the company. The shares of Apollo Hospitals were up 0.49 per cent on the BSE on Tuesday morning, trading at 809.15 a unit.
Apollo Health Street provides support services to more than 150 healthcare partners throughout the US from 10 global operational centres of excellence.
This acquisition will help Sutherland provide comprehensive IT and business process solutions, and consolidate its presence in the $38 billion US healthcare BPO market. Also, the deal is closing after the re-election of Barack Obama and it is now expected that the US government will extend the healthcare insurance reforms, bringing more people under cover.
Established in 1986, Sutherland has over 30,000 employees globally, working out of 35 operations centres in the US, the Philippines, India, the UAE, Egypt, Bulgaria, the UK, Canada, Jamaica, Mexico and Colombia. The company is backed by Oak Investment Partners and Standard Chartered Private Equity.
