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AEGIS acquires CCN GROUP (PTY) LTD. Expands its global presence to include South Africa

Aegis to invest R 500 million (USD 60 million) in next three years A step towards its commitment to create 5000 jobs in South Africa Brings specialized customer lifecycle management solutions to South Africa


Mumbai, India and Johannesburg, South Africa (July 9, 2009) – Aegis Limited, a leading global business process outsourcing (BPO) provider and part of Essar Group, one of India’s largest and fastest growing business conglomerates, today announced the acquisition of 100% equity of CCN Group PTY Ltd., one of the largest privately owned contact center outsourcing company in South Africa.

CCN Group (Pty) Ltd is one of leading BPO companies of South Africa and has been in the BPO business for last 7 years. CCN has revenues in excess of R 150 million (USD 19 million) for FY 2008-09. Its clientele includes both onshore and offshore customers with significant revenues from clients located in UK. It has a capacity of 700 seats and has over 1000 employees operating out of 2 facilities.

Aparup Sengupta, Global CEO and Managing Director of Aegis Limited said, “CCN is a strategic fit for Aegis. This combined entity will offer CCN’s clients and prospects an expanded set of solutions and services from a broader geographic delivery platform. South Africa becomes an integral part of our growth strategy and offers an opportunity for Aegis to develop skills, create employment and bring in international experience to South Africa.This is a step towards our commitment to creating 5000 jobs in South Africa over a period of time.”

Lawrence Brick, CEO of CCN said “We are confident that CCN has found a worthy parent to guide its future growth. We believe this transaction creates a win for our customers, employees and stockholders. With this transaction, Aegis proves its commitment to develop South Africa as a destination for international businesses.”

Sandip Sen, Global Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Sales at Aegis said “We saw a good synergy in CCN and Aegis culture. We share a similar passion to deliver high quality services and are delighted to integrate CCN with Aegis. We are putting in significant amount of our overall South Africa planned investment of R 500 million (USD 60 million) into this acquisition. This is our way of demonstrating long term commitment to this market place. With more than 33,000 employees globally, Aegis is well positioned to right shore customized solutions to meet today’s business needs. Additionally, the clients will benefit from greater scale, deeper domain expertise, comprehensive and flexible solution offerings,robust financial strength, and a rich international talent pool.”

Aegis has a successful history of integrations in the last four years, including its acquisition in October 2008 of PeopleSupport, Inc., a NASDAQ listed outsourcing firm. Aegis has established a record of aligning the interests of all stakeholders in a short period of time.

This would be the 12th acquisition for Aegis, while the next one, UCMS in Australia is still awaiting regulatory approval for closing.

About Aegis
Aegis is one of the fastest growing BPO companies globally with annualized revenues of approximately half a billion USD. With deep industry expertise, Aegis services several Fortune 500 companies worldwide in the telecom, banking, financial services, insurance, healthcare, and travel verticals. Aegis offers ”Any Time Any Where Any Process” global delivery platform spanning onshore, near shore and offshore locations with 32 delivery facilities in United States, Philippines, India, Costa Rica and Kenya. For more information please visit www.aegisglobal.com

About Essar
The Essar Group is a diversified business corporation with a balanced portfolio of assets in the manufacturing and services sectors of Steel, Energy, Power, Communications, Shipping Ports & Logistics, and Projects. Essar has a presence in more than 15 countries worldwide. www.essar.com

About CCN
CCN Group is South Africa's largest privately owned contact centre outsourcing company,whose core competence lies in end-to-end inbound customer service in the contact centre arena. Supported by high quality customer service, high-performance processes and worldclass technology, CCN brings rapid improvements in efficiency and effectiveness to our clients contact centres. As a result of its high quality of service CCN has managed to secure and maintain the contact centres for prominent blue chip clients both locally and internationally. CCN’s reputation for providing the best quality service is recognised by the winning of numerous industry and client awards. CCN’s passion for people, development and training is the reason it is viewed as an employer of choice. www.ccn.co.za