More Choices for Punters

Like a supermarket shelf that seems to proliferate with more and more brands to choose from, the financial market will soon offer us a surfeit of BPO companies in which to invest our retirement money.

Sutherland and Genpact, both from India, are among those queuing to sell shares to the public for the first time. They will join the battle for investors' capital, a fight already being fought by publicly traded companies PeopleSupport and eTelecare. As some in the Philippines like to quip, "the more, the many-er."

After the bumper debut by EXLService Holdings and WNS on Nasdaq and NYSE, respectively, Rochester, New York-headquartered third party BPO service provider Sutherland Global Services, is eyeing a US listing to raise close to $250 million. At the same time, it is also learnt that Genpact, one of the country’s largest BPO firms, is mulling a US listing through an IPO to raise over $600 million for the company and its promoters.

The company, previously part of US-based General Electric, is planning to offload about 15% equity through a public float on either Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange later this year, sources said. The company’s major shareholders — GE and US-based private equity giants Oakhill Capital and General Atlantic — are likely to sell part of their holding through this IPO, which could value the company at around $4 billion.

Genpact has appointed three US-based investment banks — Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Citigroup — for the IPO and it may file the regulatory prospectus in the next few weeks, the sources said.