Aegis acquires Australia-based UCMS Group

Deal of the month

Essar Group-owned BPO firm, Aegis, has announced the acquisition of Australia-based UCMS Group for Rs 184.3 crore ($37.2 million) in an allcash deal. Aegis proposes to pay UCMS AU $0.98 per share in cash, which is a premium of 133 per cent over the closing price of its share on the last trading day before announcement. The deal is subject to approval of the UCMS shareholders and the Supreme Court in Australia.

Impact analysis
While there were larger deals over the past one month, the Aegis-UCMS one acquires significance because of its global nature. The transaction is in line with Aegis’ strategy to acquire new markets and be amongst the top global BPO players. UCMS, which has presence in Australia and New Zealand, will add four more global locations and a workforce of 2,300 to the existing 32 global locations and 31,000 workforce of Aegis. UCMS will also benefit from the transaction as it will now be part of a global BPO enterprise and can leverage cross-selling opportunities to the larger pool of Aegis customers spread around global locations.