WNS Fusion takeover
By Sumir Singh

BPO giant WNS has over 23,000 professionals across 26 delivery centers worldwide including Costa Rica, India, Philippines, Romania, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom and United States of America.

WNS has announced that it has acquired Fusion Outsourcing Services (Pty) Ltd., a leading BPO provider based in South Africa. Fusion provides a range of outsourcing services including contact center, customer care and business continuity services to both South African and international clients. With operations in Cape Town and Johannesburg, Fusion currently employs approximately 1,500 people. WNS recently collaborated with Fusion to service one of WNS’s largest UK-based clients with premium voice services.

WNS’s CEO, Keshav Murugesh, stated, “The acquisition of an established player like Fusion brings a new and highly leveragable asset to WNS. Expanding our global delivery footprint and entering emerging growth markets are key pillars of our investment strategy. We believe that establishing operations in South Africa addresses both of these objectives. WNS currently has several existing and prospective clients interested in having services delivered from South Africa to take advantage of the English language capabilities, skilled talent pool and strong cultural work ethic. Longer term, we view this growing economy as an exciting end-market user of global BPO services, especially in the areas of finance and accounting and insurance-specific services. We are pleased to welcome the Fusion team into the WNS family, and look forward to working together to take the company to greater heights.”

The acquisition of the shares of Fusion from BFSL Limited, part of UK-based BGL Group of companies, is effective June 21, 2012, and cash consideration for the transaction was UK10 million Pounds plus adjustments for cash and working capital. The transaction is expected to be funded from cash on hand, with approximately half of the consideration paid at completion and the remainder payable in tranches on or before May 31, 2013. Based on Fusion’s existing book of business, the acquisition is expected to contribute incremental revenue of $9 million - $10 million for WNS in fiscal 2013. WNS expects the transaction to be neutral to adjusted earnings1 per share in fiscal 2013, and accretive in fiscal 2014.