UBS in talks with Infosys, Wipro for sale of BPO, KPO units

Switzerland-based bank UBS is believed to have put its business process outsourcing (BPO) and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) units up for sale. The bank, which has centres in Poland and Hyderabad, is in talks with Indian IT companies such as Infosys and Wipro, said a person familiar with the possible transaction.

The UBS India Service Centre (ISC), along with its Krakow (Poland) centre, is valued at around $200 million, according to another source. The story was first reported by ET NOW. When contacted, Infosys CFO V Balakrishnan denied that they were in talks with UBS, while Wipro chief strategy officer and head of M&A KR Lakshminarayana declined to comment on the deal. A UBS spokesman in an e-mail response to ET said: “UBS continually seeks to explore commercial opportunities in all jurisdictions in which it operates that have the potential to be of benefit to the the company and its component businesses. However, UBS remains committed to all its activities in India.”

Wipro, which had bought Citi’s captive technology arm in December 2008, is learnt to have started a preliminary due diligence of the UBS unit. Both Infosys and Wipro are IT vendors for the bank and provide software development services along with application and maintenance services.

Incidentally, Wipro had also helped the Swiss bank set up its captive operations in Hyderabad. UBS had invested over $70 million to set up its unit, which employs 2,100 people. The bank also has a 250-seater unit in Poland, which became operational in 2008.