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Biggest Investment in 3rd Party KPO in Western India
By siliconindia
Ahmedabad: Greater Pacific Capital (GPC), a London-based strategic investment firm has announced its $32.5 million investment in Azure Knowledge, an ITES player in the country and the largest BPO and KPO in the state of Gujarat.
The investment, which will be made over the next 12-18 months, is claimed to be the biggest investment in a 3rd party KPO in western India till date. This is following Azure's successful acquisition of 49 percent stake in U.S. based Citizens Financial Mortgage in April 2008.
In line with its investment model based on identifying and taking stake in strong public and private companies in the highest growth industries within India and China, Greater Pacific Capital's investment is poised to enhance Azure's position as a specialist company in the two domains - financial services and knowledge-based customer interaction services.
Joe Sealy, Co-Founder-Promoter of GPC and former MD in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs will join the Azure board along with Pradeep Udhas, MD, GPC, India and former Global Partner-in-charge Sourcing Advisory Services with KPMG. The current promoters of Azure, Dushyant Joshi and Jay Ruparel, will continue to hold majority stake in the company with participation of GPC being in an investment and strategic advisory capacity.
"We have been growing at more than 200 percent over the last two years and to sustain this growth rate and help us with our inorganic growth plans, we were looking for capital infusion from an investor that would add strategic and intellectual value along with financial investment" said Dushyant Joshi, the founder and CEO of Azure, adding that Greater PacificCapital will bring in a lot of visibility and significant board level guidance to drive Azure's future growth plans.
"Dushyant Joshi and his team at Azure have built and led a high growth business by focusing on delivering value to customers through long term partnerships and the application of superior technology. Given the strength of the Azure's management team across the business, the company is well positioned to exploit the knowledge process outsourcing opportunities internationally," said Joe Sealy.
