IBM to sell its customer-care outsourcing business to Synnex for $505 mn

International Business Machines (IBM) yesterday said that it will sell its customer-care outsourcing business to Synnex Corp, for $505 million.

Synnex will pay $430 million in cash and $75 million in stock, giving IBM a stake in itself.

California-based Synnex will fully integrate IBM's global customer-care outsourcing business with its wholly owned subsidiary, Concentrix.

As part of the transaction, Synnex will enter into a multi-year agreement with IBM, and Concentrix will become a strategic business partner of IBM for global customer care business process outsourcing services.

Concentrix is a leader in providing platforms, people and services to support high-value interactions at every stage of the customer lifecycle.

Synnex said that the acquisition will help Concentrix will provide customer care services for clients in more than 12 industries and significantly expand its global footprint across six continents to approximately 45,000 staff and 50 plus delivery centres.

''Our clients are investing at an unprecedented rate, in order to engage with and service clients across multiple channels,'' said Lori Steele, General Manager at IBM Global Process Services.

''This partnership between IBM and Synnex will provide our clients with the innovation they have come to expect from IBM through our deep capabilities in advanced analytics, social business, cloud and smarter commerce, complemented by Concentrix' flexible and adaptive global customer care delivery network,'' she added.

The transaction is expected to close in the coming months, subject to customary closing conditions.

IBM said it expects to have a total pre-tax gain on the sale of between $125 million and $175 million.