Essar concludes sale of Aegis to Capital Square Partners for $300 million

Essar Group has completed the sale of its subsidiary Aegis to private equity firm Capital Square Partners for $300 million (about Rs 2,000 crore), marking its complete exit from BPO business. The group had announcedthe deal to sell off the company to PE major on 3 April 2017.

AGC Holdings Limited Mauritius, a wholly-owned portfolio company of Essar Global Fund Limited, has sold off its entire stake in ESM Holdings Limited, Mauritius, which is the holding company of Aegis.

The proceeds from the sale of Aegis and  earlier announced Essar Oil have enabled Essar to retire almost Rs 75,000 crore of debt, the company said in a statement

"I am thankful to the Essar management for incubating the BPO business and nurturing it through timely and strategic acquisitions. Essar's support and guidance helped us grow and reach a stage where we could dream bigger and strive higher. I am very excited to have CSP join us as our new partners in Aegis' growth journey," says Sandip Sen, Global CEO at Aegis.

Essar Group had acquired Aegis Communication in 2003. Since then, the BPO company has grown more than ten-fold through a mix of organic growth and strategic acquisitions.

The company has expanded its global footprint across 9 countries - India, South Africa, Australia, Saudi Arabia, UK, Argentina, Sri Lanka, Peru and Malaysia. Aegis has concluded over 19 acquisitions with a 100 per cent success ratio, in contrast with the 30 per cent in the BPO industry, the company claimed. 

In 2014, AGC sold its stake in Aegis USA Inc (comprising Aegis' operations in the US, the Philippines and Costa Rica) to Teleperformance.

Essar's advisors in the transaction include Axis Capital as financial advisor, and Platinum Partners and Sidley Austin as legal advisors. Shearman & Sterling and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas were the legal advisors to CSP.