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Azure picks up 49% in US co

(Source : The Times of India)

AHMEDABAD: As part of its ambitious global growth plans, Ahmedabad-based business process outsourcing player Azure Styx Infotech has picked up a strategic 49% stake in Philadelphia-based mortgage broker company Citizen Financial Mortgage for around $25 million.

In a bid to expand its knowledge services business, Azure has also joined hands with a 40-year old market research application software company based out of San Francisco-CfMC-to set up a joint venture company in the US in which it will hold majority stake. CfMC has nearly 60% market share in the US for market research tools and application software.

“We have already signed agreements for both deals. The strategic investment in CMC will add 1,000 seats and $20 million worth of outsourcing to our operations over the next three years,” said Dushyant Joshi, founding CEO and director, Azure Styx Infotech.

Azure, which currently has a 2,100-seat operation across four centers in Ahmedabad and 15 seats in China, will be adding 500 seats at Ahmedabad as well as expanding to Mumbai and Pune with a total of 500 seats to cater to the outsourcing business from CFM, Joshi explained.

“In calendar 2008, the investment in CFM will bring outsourcing business opportunities worth 500 seats to our KPO division. The outsourced activity out of CFM will be around $6-7 million in 2008-09,” Joshi said.

The Ahmedabad-based BPO, which claims to be Gujarat's largest ITeS player with targeted revenues of Rs 30 crore for fiscal 2007-08, was among the first BPO players in Gujarat to set up shop in 1991 and currently operates in the knowledge services, financial services, customer care and IT services domain.

Azure currently caters to sectors like IT and telecom, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, FMCG and consumer goods, BFSI (banking financial services and insurance), retail and manufacturing as well as media.

Azure was founded in 1991 as an information technology/CRM training and software development company and in the period from 1991 to 2000, it trained more than 60,000 students across various Azure IT Training Institutes. In 2000, Azure ventured into the business process outsourcing business facilitated by promoters with more than 15 years of outsourcing and service industry experience.