Mumbai, April 3: The Ruias-led Essar Group has sold its BPO company Aegis Ltd to Singapore-based private equity fund manager Capital Square Partners for an estimated $275-$300 million.

The sale marks Essar's exit from the BPO business.

"AGC Holdings Ltd (AGC) Mauritius, a wholly owned portfolio company of Essar Global Ltd, has entered into a definitive agreement with Capital Square Partners (CSP) to sell 100 per cent of its stake," a company statement said.

Though the company did not give the value of the deal, sources said the sale could be in the range of $275-$300 million.

"Net proceeds of this sale will be used to retire Essar's debt," it said, adding the transaction is likely to close by June 2017, subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions.

Essar entered the BPO business in 2004 with the acquisition of US-based Aegis Communications Group, with 2,000 employees.

In July 2014, it sold its US unit to Teleperformance of Paris for $610 million.

"Since then, Aegis has once again grown the business substantially in terms of headcount, revenues, product offerings and customer base, becoming a preferred vendor for many premium clients in key industries, such as telecommunication, technology, media, banking, financial services and insurance, travel and logistics, retail and e-commerce," the statement said.

Aegis has BPO business across India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Australia, South Africa, Peru, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and the UK. Globally, it has 40,000 employees and 47 BPOs, earning a revenue of $400 million.

Uday Gujadhar, director-AGC, said: "This transaction is in line with our strategy of incubating, building and operating world-class businesses, and being open to monetising them at a premium value when the market conditions are favourable."

Sanjay Chakrabarty and Mukesh Sharda, managing partners of CSP, jointly said: "We are excited about the opportunity to work with the Aegis management team in embarking on the next stage of growth, by focusing on innovation and adding our sector knowledge and expertise."

Sandip Sen, managing director of Aegis, said: "Aegis has established itself as a high-value service provider to its customers. We shall continue to provide quality service to our esteemed customers and be an employer of choice."

Axis Capital is the financial adviser, and Platinum Partners and Sidley Austin the legal advisers for the deal.

Shearman & Sterling and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas were the legal advisers to CSP.

Capital Square Partners is a private equity fund manager based in Singapore and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

It looks for buyouts and has investments across Southeast Asia and India, with focus on healthcare, business services and consumer sectors. It has made a number of investments in the technology services and BPO sectors, including its investment to acquire MINACS in early 2014 which was subsequently acquired by Concentrix in late 2016.