Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Citigroup keen to divest 80% of its BPO arm

On the heels of Blackstone's acquisition of the back-office firm Intelenet, news is ripe that Citigroup is keen on selling 80 percent of its business process outsourcing (BPO) arm in India for USD 700-USD 750 million, reported the Mint .

Citigroup is in "advanced negotiations" with leading private equity firms for an all-cash deal for Citigroup Global Services, the newspaper said, citing investment bankers close to the deal. A private equity investor was most likely to emerge as the buyer with IBM Corp. and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. "likely to drop out of the race over terms being proposed by the seller", the bankers told Mint.

Citigroup Global Services operates primarily in financial services and employs about 8,000 people, its Web site showed.

Private firms are eager to invest in back-office firms in India because of the potential for fast growth in the sector. Carlyle, which has a 28 percent holding in Allsec Technologies Ltd., is reportedly bidding for another back-office firm, Cambridge Solutions Ltd.

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