French technology consulting service leader Capgemini Se said today it has agreed to purchase Indian business process automation company WNS Holdings Ltd. in a $3.3 billion cash transaction as part of its efforts to expand the range of artificial intelligence tools it can offer its customers.
With this acquisition, Capgemini can use Generated and Agent AI technologies to create consulting services focused on helping businesses increase business processes and cost-effectiveness.
Capgemini said it is buying WNS for $76.50 per share. This represents a 17% premium at its final closing price on July 3rd. This transaction does not include WNS financial obligations.
Based in India and specializes in business process outsourcing and data analytics, WNS “will further increase exposure to the US market while bringing high growth, marginal additional, resilient digital business process services,” said Aiman Ezzat, CEO of Capgemini (WNS CEO Murugesh and left).
WNS counts key customers including Coca-Cola Co., T-Mobile USA Inc. and United Airlines Inc. Once the acquisition closes, Capgemini is expected to position itself as a leader in digital business process services, combining WNS' horizontal and vertical expertise in a global footprint. The companies generated total revenues on digital BPS of over $1.9 billion.
One of the biggest opportunities for businesses to generate value with generation AI and AI agents is said to be in redesigning business processes and operations. This could attract a substantial amount of AI investment budgets, as the technology promises to turn organizations into AI-powered companies that have dramatically increased productivity through a new type of service known as intelligent operations.
Intelligent Operations is a consulting-driven approach aimed at transforming horizontal and vertical business processes with AI agents and generated AI, aiming to improve business outcomes by improving efficiency, speed, agility and agility of the enterprise through process automation.
Capgemini and WNS are already dabbing in intelligent operations. Capgemini offers consulting-driven transformation for business processes, advanced AI tools, and BPS platforms, and WNS builds many industry-specific BPS products.
Capgemini said the addition of WNS acts like a catalyst and converts it into an intelligent operational leader.
“The complementary product and client combination of WNS and Capgemini will quickly unlock cross-selling opportunities,” Ezzat said in a statement. “It also lays the foundation for building the ability to seize intelligent operational strategic market opportunities.”
Charlie Dai, analyst at Forrester Research Inc., told ComputerWorld that hybrid automation and agent AI will become a major priority for enterprise decision makers over the next three years. He said WNS' domain-specific AI agents and their platforms such as AI.Agentic Suite and WNS Expirus will significantly improve their BPS products focused on Capgemini's own agent.
There is also a strategic angle towards the acquisition, according to Rajesh Ranjan, managing partner of Everest Group. He pointed out that Agent AI is still an early technology, and that most implementations up to now are pilot projects.
“The key drivers don't involve tools and software, but they don't involve access to the business process operational expertise that WNS brings to the table,” Ranjan told ComputerWorld. “This is a prerequisite for developing and deploying real AI solutions.”
Capgemini said it expects the acquisition to be completed by the end of the year, adding that it will soon add it to both its revenue and operating margins.
However, the market did not respond very kindly to the news. Analysts at Morgan Stanley said Capgemini's stock fell by about 5% on the European benchmark Stoxx 600 index. This is because they warned that the acquisition would have a negative impact on balance sheet flexibility without significantly increasing revenue.
Photo: Capgemini
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