Aegis is setting up operations in Coimbatore
Aegis Communications Group Inc, the Essar group’s $200-million BPO arm, will ramp up operations in the city and recruit 1,500 people in the next one year.Aegis had acquired the city-based Customer First and started operations more than a year ago. It now employs 700 people at the city centre.“We have taken up a new facility in Sector V, spread across 65,000 square feet and nine floors,” said Aparup Sengupta, chief executive officer of Aegis Communications Group Inc.The company has 4,500 employees in seven centres in the US and provides multi-channel customer relationship management, including database management, analytical services and market intelligence to companies.Aegis is also setting up a centre in the Philippines.“We are looking at other locations in the Dominican Republic, Argentina and Brazil. We might set up centres or even consider the buyout route to enter these markets,” said Sengupta. Apart from the city, Aegis is setting up operations in Coimbatore which will employ 750 people.In the national capital region, there are three centres, two in Gurgaon and one in Noida, which employ 4,500 people. The Ahmedabad centre has 550 employees, Bangalore 2,000 and Hyderabad has 1,500.
The Essar group has delisted the US-based Aegis Communications Group from the Nasdaq. Aegis was delisted at an equity valuation of $57.4 million.The move was part of the Essar group’s strategy to consolidate holdings in various businesses under a single overseas entity — Essar Global. The delisting process was initiated on September 19, 2006 and completed in early November. Aegis US is controlled by the Essar group through Aegis BPO Services, which owns World Focus.The Mauritius-based World Focus is an Essar affiliate that owned 94.84 per cent of Aegis Communications. In November 2003, Essar and Deutsche Bank had bought an 80 per cent stake in Texas-based Aegis for $28 million. The purchase was part of the Essar group’s foray into the IT and ITeS businesses.
