BPO and technology-enabled services provider Sutherland Global Services, after taking over Adventity Global Services in a cash-all deal, has won its first client in the airline and travel vertical.
Dilip Vellodi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sutherland, said the client acquisition in the travel and airline vertical was “won jointly by us (Sutherland and Adventity)’’. Declining to divulge any further details on the new client, Mr. Vellodi told this correspondent that the “takeover of Adventity is a milestone in our growth path as this is our first acquisition in 24 years.’’
Asserting that Sutehrland had always had a bias towards organic growth, he, however, said, “We will continue to look at opportunities from a strategic point of view and not just from the sole intention of revenue growth and scale.’’ While stating that Sutehrland would not restrict its future acquisition to any particular size or geography, he, however, asserted that “strategic and cultural alignment will be very important for us.”
Adventity, acquired by Sutherland recently, has over 2,500 employees with operations spread across New York, Houston, Mumbai, Chennai, Dubai and the UAE. Established in 2003, Adventity provides business and financial research and analytical services. And, it is focussed on providing platform-based BPO services to banks and financial services companies and also to airline and travel industry.
“This acquisition (Adventity) gives us an extension of our services and capabilities into those emerging markets, which are the fastest growing BPO markets in the world,’’ Mr. Vellodi said.
He said Sutherland would leverage Adventity’s strong business-cum- financial research and analytical capabilities and deploy them across its own client base. “That is why this acquisition makes huge sense for us,’’ he pointed out.
The entire Adventity team had been absorbed into Sutherland, he said. The first phase of integration had already been completed, he added. Sutherland, which clocked $400 million revenue last year, is hoping to scale the $500 million-mark this year. Adventity would contribute close to around $50 million to the total revenue, he added. With Adventity under its fold, the global headcount of Sutherland had now crossed 30,000, making it among the largest BPO in the world.
About 65 per cent of the $175 billion global BPO market that was growing at seven per cent annual resided in the U.S., 15-20 per cent in Europe and the rest in APAC, Mr. Vellodi said. “Headquartered in the U.S., we have a close customer model that will help us maintain our growth momentum despite the Euro crisis,’’ he added. In this context, he said the acquisition of Adventity would help Sutherland reach APAC, the fastest growing BPO market in the world.
