Essar Call Center Buys PeopleSupport For $250M

August 4, 2008 11:43 p.m. EST

Mumbai, India (AHN) - Aegis BPO, the call center business of the Essar Group of India, announced Monday that it will buy PeopleSupport Inc. for $250 million in cash.

Essar's acquisition of the Los Angeles, California-based BPO and whose biggest operations are in the Philippines, will expand Aegis' customer base in its biggest market, the U.S.

PeopleSupport will add 15 clients to Aegis, which accounts for 60 percent of the two companies' combined sales amounting to $467 million.

Aegis, which will fund the transaction using internal sources, will pay $12.50 per share. Takeover is expected within a 100-day period assuming regulatory approvals are obtained by that time. PeopleSupport will be delisted from Nasdaq.

PeopleSupport's Philippine operations will be merged with Aegis through a Mauritius-based unit of Essar.

Essar Group operates steel, oil and mobile phone businesses in India.