BPO Buy

Oct 06, 2009 (LBO) - Control of IsmartTimex, a Sri Lanka based outsourcing firm has been acquired by India's Aegis Limited, a unit of the Essar group, but a minority 20 percent stake will be held by local partners, the company said. Aegis says it has operations in India, Philippines, the US, Costa Rica, Kenya, South Africa, Australia and Sri Lanka. It has 39,000 employees and serves 130 clients.

Sri Lanka's Timex Garments had sold an 80 percent stake to Aegis' parent Essar Services Holdings Limited.

"Ismart Timex is one of the largest BPO service providers in Sri Lanka and we expect it to grow exponentially to more than double in voice, back office, especially F&A (finance and accounting) in the next one year," Aegis chief executive Aparup Sengupta said in a statement.

"Aegis will now offer services from 35 delivery centers across the world."

Arshad Sattar, Managing Director, Ismart Timex managing director Arshad Sattar was quoted as saying that Sri Lanka has a "rich talent pool for voice, back office and shared services business."