Aegis buys Sallie Mae’s back office in Texas

Aegis Ltd, a provider of BPO services and part of the $15-billion Essar Group yesterday agreed to acquire the US-based customer service centre in Killeen, Texas from Sallie Mae, the country's largest student lender.

Virginia-based  Sallie Mae, a Fortune 500 company, provides federal and private student loans for undergraduate and graduate students.

Sallie Mae manages $182 billion in education loans and serves 10 million student and parent customers. Through its affiliates, the company also manages more than $25 billion in 529 college-savings plans, and is a major, private source of college funding contributions in the US with 12 million members.

Sallie Mae said last month that it will shed 2,500 jobs after US President Barack Obama ended federal subsidies that supported private student lending, thus saving at least $60 billion in fees and eliminating the role of the middleman in student lending, which affected companies like Sallie Mae.

Effective 4 June 2010 Aegis will absorb 350 Sallie Mae employees to those at its existing 10 centres in North America that employs more than 4,000 people.

Sandip Sen, president (Americas) and global chief marketing officer of Aegis said, "Aegis is committed to aggressively growing its business in the US. Our new facility in Killeen, Texas marks Aegis' tenth center in the US, and we look forward to continuing to grow our capabilities in North America."