Former Essar-owned Aegis BPO completes merger with StarTek Inc

Aegis, a portfolio company of Singapore-based Capital Square Partners, and business process outsourcing services provider StarTek Inc said they have completed the transaction to merge the two entities, and named Lance Rosenzweig the Global CEO of the combined business.

Aegis, formerly owned by the Essar Group, was acquired by CSP in November last year, while the merger of Aegis and StarTek was announced in March.

An affiliate of CSP owns approximately 55 percent of the combined company while StarTek shareholders - existing prior to the closing of the transaction- own approximately 45 percent of the combined business.

“This transaction is expected to be value accretive for the new company with access to world’s most rapidly growing markets, multi-lingual offerings, strong footprint and the institution of operational excellence capabilities and industry best practices. This integration will largely benefit our customers with enhanced capabilities, strong leadership, economies of scale and product innovation,” said Aparup Sengupta, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the combined business.

Aegis had earlier said that the transaction would give Aegis renewed access to the United States and Philippines markets.

The combined business has over 50,000 employees and a significant presence across 66 business BPO locations in 13 countries and 6 continents.

“Our employees have been the core of our success and with this alignment, we are excited to integrate talent, experience, products and services in order to be able to transition into a global leader in the BPM space. We will continue to drive technology innovation and provide world-class support and value to our clients globally,” said newly-appointed global CEO Rosenzweig.

Sandip Sen, the previous CEO of Aegis, has moved into the board of the holding company CSP and will look at strategic initiatives in his new role.

As part of Rosenzweig’s appointment, the company has entered into an employment agreement which provides for the grant of an inducement equity award to Rosenzweig outside of the StarTek, Inc. 2008 Equity Incentive Plan, in accordance with an NYSE rule.

The agreement and grant have been approved by the Compensation Committee of the Company's Board of Directors.

The inducement grant to Rosenzweig will consist of options to purchase 584,000 shares of the company's common stock, with the options to have a ten-year term and an exercise price equal to the fair market value of a share on the date of grant.

The options will be scheduled to vest in equal quarterly instalments over three years following Rosenzweig’s start date, subject to his continued employment with the company on the applicable vesting dates.

Shearman & Sterling LLP acted as legal counsel for Aegis. William Blair & Company, LLC acted as StarTek’s financial advisor, and Jenner & Block LLP acted as StarTek’s legal counsel.