Infosys expected to buy Firstsource, Sutherland Tipped to get Apollo BPO

In the rapidly changing scenario within the Indian BPO industry, the market is abuzz with merger and acquisition talks. Mahindra Satyam acquired Vcustomer, then got merged with Tech Mahindra . Now the speculations are high that Infosys might buy a major stake in Firstsource .

DNA Indiareports– “Firstsource has a huge debt burden, made worse by foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) — bonds with a fixed maturity issued by Indian companies to foreign investors — due to mature later this year. Around 60% of the FCCBs maturing were raised at a rupee-dollar rate less than 42 and since rupee has significantly depreciated in 2011, the firm is expected to bear heavy losses.”

First source has been trying to sell itself for last 1 year however was unable to get a suitable buy till Infosys begun to show some interest.

Experts suggest “Firstsource derives 34% of its revenue from healthcare. If Infosys goes for the acquisition, it will add more teeth to this vertical, which is expected to give contract wins in the coming quarters, thanks to the US healthcare reforms.

In another major development as reported by Times News Network, Back office majors Sutherland Global Services and Genpact are in the final race to acquire Apollo Health Street, the healthcare business process outsourcing (BPO) arm of Apollo Hospitals, in a deal valued at over Rs 1,100 crore ($220 million)

Sutherland, which has put in a higher bid, is the front-runner in the race.

Apollo Health Street takes up the outsourced financial and technology work for the big healthcare service providers, helping them to run profitable and efficient operations.

The acquisition will help Sutherland to scale up in the healthcare BPO segement.