Techgoss prediction true:  Cognizant buys UBS
By Bala Shah

On Oct 1, Techgoss had published an article sourced from a UBS insider that predicted it would sell its BPO to highly regarded tech giant Cognizant. Unlike, previous lukewarm pitches for WNS, Satyam and other companies, Cognizant had focused a laser like attention on the UBS deal. On Oct 15, 2009 this was formally announced by both companies.

International news agency Reuters has just reported:

“
TEANECK, N.J., Oct. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH), a leading provider of consulting, technology, and business process outsourcing services, today announced a definitive agreement to acquire UBS India ServiceCentre Private Limited (UBS ISC), the Hyderabad, India-based captive service provider to the UBS Group.

As part of the transaction, UBS and Cognizant have entered into a multi-year services agreement under which Cognizant will provide a range of business process outsourcing (BPO), knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), IT, and remote infrastructure management services to UBS divisions around the globe to enable them to reduce time-to-market, expand service delivery, and enhance productivity, operational efficiency, and quality.
“

(Techgoss had published the following article on Oct 1, 2009)

Techgoss Exclusive:  Cognizant to buy UBS
By Bala Shah

You heard it here first. Highly regarded tech giant Cognizant will use its vast cash reserves to really make a BPO acquisition. Unlike, previous lukewarm pitches for WNS, Satyam and other companies, Cognizant has focused a laser like attention on the UBS deal. A source at top Swiss bank UBS told techgoss that the deal will be announced soon.

The UBS Manager involved with the deal informed us that Cognizant scores high over Genpact in terms of its technological capabilities, innovation, financial strength and domain expertise. The results which will be announced in the next few days are likely to favor Cognizant over Genpact. The winner has most likely been notified already.

UBS is one of the top two Swiss banks and one of the top ten global banks employing over 70000 people in over 50 countries. Its major revenue streams are from wealth management, investment banking and asset management. It was one of the major banks hit by a major tax scandal of one of its employees helping US clients avoid paying taxes. Their captive BPO in India has around 1500 -1800 full time employees and is valued at approximately $200 million. The captive does investment research, reconciliation and is mainly involved in investment banking operations.

Cognizant (CTS) is one of the top 4 global IT firms with 60000+ employees. Its highly regarded BPO employs 5000 and is one of the fastest growing horizontals in the company. CTS needs to desperately leverage its inherent BFS domain expertise (BFS vertical globally brings almost 40% of CTS revenue) and this new deal could propel them in the same BFS BPO space as TCS and Wipro.