LawFuel – Legal Announcement Service – Leading international law firms Eversheds and Slaughter and May have helped close one of the biggest business process outsourcing (BPO) deals in the financial services sector.
WNS (Holdings) Limited, advised by Eversheds, and Aviva plc, advised by Slaughter and May, have completed a multi-year $1 billion BPO contract. WNS, a leading provider of global BPO services, has acquired Aviva’s offshore operations, Aviva Global Services, for a cash consideration of £115 million, including business process operations in India and Sri Lanka comprising over 5800 seats. The transaction enables Aviva, the leading provider of life and pension products in Europe (including the UK), to realise the value of the offshoring operations it has been developing since 2003, while continuing to benefit from the expertise that it has established in that time.
The organisations also entered into a Master Services Agreement (MSA), in which WNS is appointed the exclusive long-term strategic BPO service provider to Aviva’s UK and Canadian business. As part of this agreement, WNS also benefits from a recently signed AGS contract for around 580 employees with Aviva’s Irish subsidiary, Hibernian. Based on the anticipated service requirements of these businesses, it is estimated that the MSA could generate around $1 billion in revenues over the life of the contract (eight years and four months).
The Slaughter and May team, which advised Aviva, was led by partner Rob Sumroy who comments:
“This was a complex deal of critical importance to both parties. It required sophisticated and creative legal support from both Eversheds and Slaughter and May, who worked collaboratively to help the contract stand the test of the full eight years plus term. Unusually, the priority was to create a contractual framework which is straightforward and easy to understand for those who must use it.”
The Eversheds team, which advised WNS, was led by partner David Glover who comments:
“Outsourcing is now a standard business activity utilised by any cost conscious business to sharpen its focus on those activities which are most strategic to the business. Choosing the right supplier, given the breadth of the marketplace, and putting in place relationships that will stand the test of time, allowing for effective renewal/transfer between suppliers allows the client to realise benefits as the market evolves.
“Eversheds has an enviable track record in building sustainable outsourcing arrangements, helping clients realise the results that they expect. This deal allows WNS to further deepen and strengthen its range of BPO offerings, and the acquisition expands its market share in target industries.”
