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UK Outsourcing Giant Acquired by US Equity Firms Sunday Jan 21 2007  A consortium of U.S.-based private equity firms, led by Oak Hill Capital Partners, has acquired United Utilities' business process outsourcing (BPO) subsidiary Vertex Data Science for US$426 million. The investors in the consortium are GenNx360 and Knox Lawrence International. The $426 million consideration includes cash, the repayment of intragroup debt and certain liabilities of Vertex. Completion of the sale is expected by the end of March. Vertex, the UK's third-largest BPO, currently employs 1,600 professionals in its offshore center in India. India, which is the company's only offshore base, houses 20 percent of the company's global workforce.  Oak Hill is already an investor in Genpact and EXL. However, it remains to be seen if the PE major would explore synergies between these investments. "Oak Hill wants to grow Vertex as an independent company. So, at this point of time, we cannot speculate around synergies between Genpact, EXL and Vertex," stated Vertex India CEO Ashish Taneja. He said that Vertex would look to grow its offshore business in India, particularly in private sector verticals like financial services, travel and transport. Vertex also handles a large number of government contracts in the UK that are unlikely to move offshore. Vertex's other clients include Trainline, a train ticketing service for the London Underground; Lastminute.com, a hotel booking service; and mobile firm Orange's customer care processes. "This is a very attractive price. Vertex was on the block for sale for almost eight to nine months and the uncertainty took toll on new client wins, which decreased its valuation. Prospective clients are wary to offshore when a BPO is on sale as the fear a competitor picking up the stake in it," Avinash Vashistha, CEO and global managing partner of investment firm Tholons, said. Earlier, big-ticket PE players like KKR, as well as a clutch of investors led by 3i Group, including Indian serial BPO entrepreneur Raman Roy, were rumored to be in reckoning to acquire UK-based BPO firm. Indian IT behemoths such as TCS and Wipro had also looked at Vertex in the initial stages but walked out as valuation proved to be steep.