Teleperformance to acquire Intelenet from Blackstone for $1 billion

Deal gives Blackstone exit with 4X returns, its largest in Asia so far

In a move that will see private equity major Blackstone making a windfall from one of its Indian investments, French back-office services company, Teleperformance, on Wednesday said it would acquire business process outsourcing (BPO) services company, Intelenet Global Services, for $1 billion (around Rs 68 billion).

The deal would see Blackstone exiting Intelenet with a 4X return, its largest exit in Asia so far.

One of the earliest investors in Intelenet, Blackstone first made an investment of $200 million in the Mumbai-based firm in 2007 and exited in 2011 by selling its entire stake to UK-based Serco Group for around $540 million, clocking a 3X return on dollar terms.

In 2015, the PE firm again brought back Intelenet from Serco for $352 million (Rs 25.6 billion) with a mix of debt and equity funding. It is now exiting at $1 billion, which is a four times return on the equity funding it made into the firm. “We have invested in Intelenet twice.

The continued success of the company is a testament to the exceptional quality of the management team, the value delivered to customers, and the deep engagement with Blackstone.

We are excited with the transfer of ownership to an industry leading company, Teleperformance, because it ensures continuity for Intelenet’s management, employees and customers,” said Amit Dixit, senior managing director and head of PE India at Blackstone.

Founded in 2000, Intelenet, currently headed by Bhupender Singh as the CEO, employs over 55,000 people across eight countries, including the US, UK, India and the Philippines. 

Blackstone is the largest international investor in India with over $6 billion deployed between private equity and real estate.

Blackstone Private Equity has invested $3.5 billion in India over the last 11 years through two funds. With this deal, Blackstone has crossed a total exit of $3 billion in the country. 

According to Teleperformance, the deal is expected to close by September, and will have a positive impact of around 10 per cent on Teleperformance’s earnings per share.

Teleperformance, which set up its India operations in 2001 currently employs around 13,000 people in the country.