Philippine BPO unit buys Integreon

LiveIt Solutions Inc. has purchased the shares of Integreon, one of the largest content management outsourcing firms from India, from an investor group led by Connect Capital and The View Group, two US-based venture capital funds. LiveIt will inject additional capital into Integreon for its expansion and future acquisitions.

Prashant Chawla, COO and CFO of Integreon, told moneycontrol that Integreon would receive an infusion of funds to the tune of $20 million.

Integreon is headquartered in Los Angeles and has sales and project management offices in London and New York. It operates two delivery centres in Mumbai and a third in New York.

In Mumbai, Integreon provides outsourced solutions to clients in the US and Europe in areas, such as equity research support, writing complete business plans, content management, presentation and word processing graphics for publishers, law firms and investment banks, patent management, and business administration services.

LiveIt, the holding company for Manila-based Ayala Corp.'s investments in the BPO sector, plans to invest $ 100 million to build up its portfolio over the next five years. LiveIt is also looking at investing in companies with a track record of successfully selling services in the US and the U.K. market, as well as generating annual sales of at least $ 10 million.

"It is a strategic investment tie-up with LiveIt Solutions. We will be opening a centre in New Delhi and Philippines initially," said Prashant Chawla.

Even though the KPO industry is still in its infancy, the premium outfits in India currently provide content services, such as preparing legal paperwork, financial research and presentation documents for banks overseas while charging anywhere between $20-30 per hour for the work-up from about $15 last year.