Warbug Pincus to exit India’s WNS Global – report

According to The Times of India, the prospective buyers recently started the formal due-diligence with a view to submitting bids by the first week of February.

Warburg Pincus, the largest shareholder in WNS, is said to be seeking a 50% premium to the current market value. The New York Stock Exchange-listed company has a market capitalization of $525 million. A 50% premium implies a price tag of INR12 billion ($231 million) for the private equity firm's stake.

WNS is among the top three Indian BPOs providing finance and accounting back office work. The company has more than 25,000 employees across 30 delivery centers worldwide including Costa Rica, India, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the UK and the US.

Warburg purchased a 64.7% stake in the company for $40 million in 2002 and has been trying to exit since 2007. The private equity firm pared its holding to 29% through two public market sales.

Baring has sought BPO deals in the past. In June of last year it teamed up with Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah to offer $800 million for Essar-owned Aegis BPO but talks collapsed on valuation differences. Carlyle previously had a majority stake in Newgen, a Chennai-based publishing BPO, but sold it to a PE consortium in 2011.

In August last year, Bain Capital and Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) acquired a minority interest in Genpact, another BPO firm, from General Atlantic and Oak Hill Capital for $1 billion.

 

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Financials
• Exits
• India
• Exit
• Warburg Pincus Asia
• The Carlyle Group
• KKR
• Baring Private Equity Partners India
• Bain Capital Asia