Teleperformance to buy Intelenet from Blackstone for $1 bn

In a move that will see private equity major Blackstone making a windfall from one of its Indian investments, French back-office services company, Teleperformance, on Wednesday said it would acquire business process outsourcing (BPO) services company, Intelenet Global Services, for $1 billion (around ~68 billion).

The deal would see Blackstone exiting Intelenet with a 4X return, its largest exit in Asia so far. One of the earliest investors in Intelenet, Blackstone first made an investment of $200 million in the Mumbai-based firm in 2007 and exited in 2011 by selling its entire stake to UK-based Serco Group for around $540 million, clocking a 3X return on dollar terms.

In 2015, the PE firm again brought back Intel en et from S er co for $352 million (~25.6 billion) with a mix of debt and equity funding. It is now exiting at $1 billion, which is a four times return on the equity funding it made into the firm .“We have invested in Intel en et twice. The continued success of the company is a testament to the exceptional quality of the management team, the value delivered to customers, and the deep engagement with Black stone. We are excited with the transfer of ownership to an industry leading company, Teleperformance, because it ensures continuity for Int elene t’ s management, employees and customers ,” said Amit Dixit, senior managing director and head of PE India at Black stone. Founded in 2000, Intel en et, currently headed by Bhupender Sing has the CEO, employs over 55,000 people across eight countries, including the US, UK, India and the Philippines.