ClientLogic to merge with major business-process outsourcer

New entity, keeping ClientLogic name and CEO, will operate in 28 countries

Email | Print By Richard Lawson and E. Thomas Wood

Nashville-based ClientLogic is buying call-center company Sitel Corp. in a deal valued at $450 million.

When closed, the acquisition will make the company, which will retain the ClientLogic name, one of the largest customer-support outsourcing companies in the world with $1.7 billion in annual revenues. It will employ 65,000 people in 28 countries. David Garner, ClientLogic's president and chief executive officer, will hold the same position with the combined companies.

At $4.05 per share, the price works out to some $310 million for Sitel's stock, plus about $140 million in assumption of debt. Regulators and shareholders still have to bless the deal. It is expected to close in the next 60 to 90 days.

Where the headquarters will reside is being determined, said Amit Shankardass, senior vice president for local marketing with ClientLogic. Shankardass said that will be determined in time. Sitel has its headquarters in Omaha, Neb.

What is certain is that ClientLogic will continue to have a presence here. "We absolutely plan to continue to have offices in Nashville," he said. "In fact, we plan to increase employment in Nashville."

ClientLogic, 89-percent owned by Canada's Onex Corp., currently employs about 100 people in Nashville.

Founded in 1985, Sitel pioneered the offshoring of call center operations a decade ago and now has centers in 25 countries. In August, Sitel reached a settlement with its largest shareholder, money management firm Jana Partners LLC, under which Jana gained three board seats after threatening a proxy contest to obtain more representation. Earlier in the year, Sitel had to restate earnings back to 2000 after announcing the discovery of financial irregularities at one of its foreign business units.