Outsourcer iEnergizer Ltd in discussions on sale to buyout firm BPEA

iEnergizer Ltd., the digital content and business process outsourcing company, said it’s in preliminary talks about a potential sale to buyout firm Baring Private Equity Asia.

The London-listed company is undertaking a review of strategic options “in order to maximize value for all existing shareholders,” it said in a statement Thursday, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. Discussions with BPEA are ongoing, and there’s no certainty they will lead to a deal, iEnergizer said.

BPEA has until July 7 to announce a firm intention to bid for iEnergizer, according to the statement. Shares of the Guernsey-based company jumped as much as 9.1% on Thursday, their largest intraday gain since February, after Bloomberg News reported iEnergizer was exploring a sale. They were up 8.1% at 1:06 p.m. in London, giving iEnergizer a market value of £810 million ($1 billion).

iEnergizer has been working with an adviser to gauge interest from potential bidders, people with knowledge of the matter said earlier. Anil Aggarwal, iEnergizer’s founder and chief executive officer, is the controlling shareholder, according to its annual report.

iEnergizer offers customer management and custom content development services, according to its website. Founded in 2000 in India, the company employs more than 22,000 people across nine delivery centers worldwide. Its customers are based primarily in the US and India, the annual report shows.

The company acquired content production and digital media firm Aptara Inc. in 2012 for $150 million.

Outsourcing firms have benefited from the digitization that accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic, driving a wave of deals. Mindtree Ltd. and Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd., two software firms controlled by Larsen & Toubro Ltd., agreed to merge last month at a combined $18 billion market value.