UPDATED: GlobalLogic is an Indian outsourcing company, but 2300 out of its 6600 employees are based in Ukraine, whilst its Chief Delivery Officer Boris Shnayder studied in Lviv. So the acquisition of GlobalLogic by one of the leading private equity firms Apax Partners is a big news for the Ukrainian outsourcing community. According to Forbes Ukraine, the transaction may reach $500 million.
Apax, or rather a fund advised by Apax Partners has acquired GlobalLogic thereby enabling exit of its current investors WestBridge Capital, New Atlantic Ventures, New Enterprise Associates and Sequoia Capital.
As for the GlobalLogic, the acquisition by a private equity firm means that the company will grow aggressively further and eventually exit via a trade sale or an IPO following recent examples of other outsourcing companies EPAM and Luxoft going public.
Here is what happened after those IPOs. EPAM shares are trading at $33,28 per share (up from $13,96 at the IPO), its market capitalisation is $1,53 billion. Luxoft shares trade at $25,7 per share (up from $20,38 at the IPO). Its market capitalisation is $790 billion. Of course, these numbers are miles away from those of Wipro ($25,4 billion) and Infosys ($27,6 billion) but they certainly make a business case for a private equity investors to look closer at the outsourcing industry.
Let’s just hope that more exits like this will turn into more business angels and seed funding into Eastern European startups.
