Serco’s new entity to close calendar year with $1 bn+ revenues

Nearly 10 months after its acquisition of Indian back-office services provider Intelenet Global Services, UK-based Serco Plc has brought all its business process outsourcing (BPO) assets together with a view to create a new entity, which his expected to close the calendar year with revenues in excess of $1 billion. (See: UK's Serco to buy Indian BPO Intelenet for Rs2,772 crore)

The new entity, called Serco Global Services, would have close to 50,000 employees, mostly from erstwhile Intelenet and The Listening Company (TLC), a UK-based contact centre company, which Serco took over a little before Intelenet and which is now under the BPO arm, in addition to some from Serco.

The new division also includes BPO capability Excelior, acquired  from Australia, a few months ago, and Infovision, a BPO with local India operations, which the company acquired a few years ago.

With the development, Serco which was mainly a services company, now has a sizeable presence in the BPO sector as also the ability to compete and win large back-office contracts globally.

Intelenet CEO Susir Kumar and Tom Riall, who took over as executive chairman after Serco's acquisition of Intelenet, would swap roles in the new entity, with Kumar focusing on giving strategic direction to the entity. He would  work on areas such as business mix and new growth drivers, while Riall, a long-time Serco executive, would focus on day-to-day operations, clients, and profitability of back-office services arm.

According to Riall, the company had for some time been looking to re-adjust its portfolio, as it wanted to be in middle and back-office services and enter emerging markets. Serco manages trains, air traffic control, prisons and even the queen's transport in UK.