WNS To Acquire Aviva's Offshore Operations

WNS, a provider of business process outsourcing (BPO) services, has entered into a Share Sale and Purchase Agreement with insurance group Aviva, backed by a Master Services Agreement, to acquire Aviva’s offshore operations, which run a number of its critical business processes.

Pursuant to the Share Sale and Purchase Agreement with Aviva, WNS has acquired all of the shares of Aviva Global Services (AGS), its business process offshoring company. Since 2004, WNS has provided BPO services to Aviva pursuant to build-operate-transfer (BOT) contracts from facilities in Pune, India and Colombo, Sri Lanka. With this acquisition, WNS will take over AGS’ operations comprising over 5,800 seats. It will assume control of AGS’s captive operations in Bangalore, India; and Colombo, Sri Lanka. AGS’s Pune and Chennai operations, which are currently run by other providers, will be transferred within a month’s time. AGS has issued transfer notices to these third party providers. The WNS-managed facility in Pune will remain with WNS.

Under the Master Services Agreement, which is of eight years and four months’ duration, WNS will be the long-term strategic BPO services provider to Aviva’s UK and Canadian businesses. Other providers will be capped on numbers and duration as per existing contracts. As part of the MSA, WNS also benefits from a recently signed AGS contract for approximately 580 employees with Aviva’s Irish subsidiary, Hibernian. Based on the anticipated service requirements of these businesses, as provided by Aviva, WNS estimates that the Master Services Agreement could generate approximately $1 billion in revenues over the life of the contract.

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“Aside from a large BPO contract, this acquisition promotes our strategy of expanding market share in target industries, extends our scale, and bolsters our service offerings – not just in the insurance industry, but across all our businesses. Aviva will be an active partner during the transition period, and we are confident that our integration plans will result in a smooth transition. We also see significant potential to grow our business with Aviva, not only outside the UK, Canada and Ireland, which AGS serves today, but also in new high growth areas such as analytics,” said Neeraj Bhargava, CEO, WNS Global Services.

Under the terms of the contract, WNS will provide a comprehensive spectrum of life and general insurance processing functions to Aviva including policy administration and settlement along with finance and accounting, customer care and other support services.

“During the selection process, we evaluated some of the best BPO providers in the marketplace and selected WNS based on their operational performance and alignment of both culture and values,” said Cathryn Riley, chief operating officer of Norwich Union Life, and chairman, Aviva Global Services, both business divisions of Aviva.

She further added, “By transferring our captive and third-party operations to WNS, Aviva benefits from WNS’ ability to bring us new perspectives and continue our focus on customer service excellence. Having worked with WNS since 2004, we expect a smooth transition period and look forward to a successful, long-term partnership.”