Switzerland-based UBS AG, which is looking to hive off its BPO and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) units in India, is in advanced talks with IT firms, Cognizant and Genpact – reported The Economic Times. Reportedly, earlier the bank was in negotiation with Infosys and Wipro, but these talks fell through due to differences on valuation.
UBS India Service Centre (ISC), with two offices in Hyderabad along with its Krakow (Poland) centre, is valued at approximately $100 million. The deal, if transpires, would mark only the second instance in which a global bank had quit its India-based BPO arm, reported the newspaper. In 2008, Citigroup sold Citigroup Global Services to TCS for $505 million and Citi Technology Services to Wipro for $100 million.
Between Cognizant and Genpact, with $1.2 billion cash reserves, the former may likely bid more aggressively as it could leverage on the process outsourcing business in the banking and financial services (BFS) space.
In an e-mailed response to the newspaper, a UBS spokesman said: “UBS continually seeks to explore commercial opportunities in all jurisdictions in which it operates that have the potential to be of benefit to the company and its component businesses. However, UBS remains committed to all its activities in India,” quoted the newspaper.
