Aegis' plan to acquire Sallie Mae unit will save jobs
By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 20 May 2010, 23:14 IST   |    2 Comments
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Aegis' plan to acquire Sallie Mae unit will save jobs
Mumbai: Aegis will acquire a customer service center of Sallie Mae that offers financing options for higher education. The BPO unit controlled by the Essar group has rescued 350 employees from losing their jobs. Sallie Mae said that it is changing the federal student loan programme as part of the healthcare reform signed by President Barack Obama in March and for this reason they would be cutting down nearly 2,500 workers. "This is the outcome we hoped for as we faced the unenviable task of restructuring our business in response to legislative changes. We are delighted to have found a great employer like Aegis, who will inherit our talented staff and provide them with growth opportunities right here at home," said Jack Hewes, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Lending Officer, Sallie Mae. Having known for managing $182 billion in education loans and serving 10 million customers Sallie Mae shares fell by 2.7 percent to $11.34 in trading, soon after the declaration of laying off 1,200 staffs in the centre in Killeen, Texas and Panama City. Aegis is quite aggressive in acquiring firms in the Indian outsourcing sector with 10 delivery centers in the U.S. and 33 outside India and at the same time it is expected to make an initial public offer by this year. "This agreement enables Aegis to expand its service offerings with highly skilled customer service professionals. Aegis will leverage Sallie Mae's expertise in quality and performance improvement and integrate the Killeen centre into our global delivery platform," said Aparup Sengupta, Managing Director and Global CEO, Aegis. The company would be walking on the same path to acquire talent and expand its offerings. It has currently employed around 40,000 people across Philippines, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Australia and South Africa.

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