Hero acquires Scotland's call centre firm

The Hero Group, a major conglomerate, has acquired Scotland's biggest call centre firm Telecom Service Centers (TSC) for an estimated $81 million (about Rs 330 crore), according to UK media reports.

Following the deal, TSC, which has more than 3,000 employees, would be merged with HeroITES, a call centre subsidiary of the Hero Group. The new entity would be known as TSC Hero.

According to Financial Times, London, the deal would enable the merged business to offer customers multi-site solutions, increasing its market potential and growth prospects in its core markets of Europe, Asia and the US.

"We firmly believe there are aspects of the industry that can be handled offshore and we already have experience of working relationships with companies in India and South Africa. Now we will be able to offer a greater offshore capability, which will actually be a part of the company and managed by the TSC team," Financial Times quoted TSC Chief Executive Ken Hills as saying.

TSC was founded in 1994. Among its clients are Vodafone, Hewlett-Packard and HSBC.

TSC has said there will be no job losses and added that the merger would create jobs in Britain. "In the last three years, we have created 1,500 jobs in the UK and the growth rate will probably continue," Hills said.

Gurgaon-based HeroITES offers outsourcing services in voice support, email services, technical support, finance and accounting BPO.

The HeroITES deal marked the end of the involvement of LDC, a mid-market private equity firm, that provided investment for growing the TSC business in 2003, said Telegraph, another British newspaper.

LDC, a unit of the Lloyds TSB Group, has sold its 70 per cent stake in TSC as a part of the arrangement.

The report stated that HeroITES would not be the first Indian outsourcing firm to operate UK-based operations. Both HCL and First Source have large contact centres in Belfast, employing thousands of staff.