By Narayan Ammachchi
French outsourcing firm Capgemini is reportedly in talks to purchase Indian IT outsourcing firm iGATE, according to the Times of India.
The paper says the acquisition is more or less certain because Apax Partners, which financed much of iGATE’s US$1.2-billion acquisition of Patni Computer Systems in 2011, converted its debt into equity four months ago to become the largest shareholder in the company.
“Apax’s stake in the company now stands at 29%, while combined stake held by the promoters stand at 25%,” said TOI, which also stated that French IT company Atos and Genpact had also made bids to acquire iGATE.
Founded by Sunil Wadhwani and Ashok Trivedi, iGATE, which posted $1.27 billion in annual revenue for 2014, is one of the world’s fastest growing IT outsourcing firms. If the reports are true, this will be one of the biggest acquisitions in the global IT outsourcing industry.
While iGATE has its headquarters in the United States, its major operations are based in India. The company first moved into Latin America in October 2008, when it opened a $2 million delivery center in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Following the acquisition of Patni Computer Systems in 2011, iGATE also took on Patni’s delivery center in Queretaro, Mexico and another of its facilities in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Although it began its operations in Guadalajara with 50 employees, there were reports that iGATE would add another 150 employees in later years. Its Mexico offices offer Spanish-language service to the company’s U.S. mortgage industry clients.
According to reports, iGATE derives 70% of its revenue from the U.S. market, with GE Electric and Royal Bank of Canada among its major clients.
The firm has has a workforce of over 31,000 spread across more than 70 offices and customer delivery centers in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
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