General Electric Partners With Leading Investors To Transform Gecis, its Global Business Processing Operation, into an Independent Company
Move Will Enable Gecis to Pursue Global Demand for BPO Services
Fairfield, Conn. (November 8, 2004) – General Electric today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement with two leading private-investment firms, General Atlantic Partners and Oak Hill Capital Partners, under which the firms will acquire a majority interest in GE Capital International Services (Gecis), GE’s global business- processing operation.
Gecis already is one of the largest shared-service providers in the world, employing more than 17,000 professional staff. As a recapitalized, independent company, Gecis will be well positioned to offer its high-quality business-processing services to companies in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, where it already has operations. Gecis will continue to serve GE under a multiyear contract, and Pramod Bhasin will remain as president and chief executive officer, supported by the current Gecis global management team. Approximately 1,000 Gecis employees will remain with GE.
The transaction, subject to customary approvals, values Gecis at $800 million. Upon closing, GE will retain a 40 percent stake in Gecis and receive cash proceeds of approximately $500 million, which it plans to use to fund growth initiatives. The parties aim to complete the transaction some time in the next six months.
“This transaction allows us to offer our quality business-process services to an expanding roster of leading companies worldwide,” Bhasin said in making today’s announcement. “With accelerated growth, Gecis will provide expanded opportunities for employees and increased value for shareholders. We look forward to our continued relationship with GE – as a valued client, continuing shareholder, and key partner – to help build Gecis into the undisputed global leader in technology-enabled business-process services.”
Bhasin said General Electric’s decision to commercialize Gecis was driven by the opportunity to realize significant value from Gecis’ scale and to broaden its global offerings by meeting the needs of other potential clients, many of which have expressed strong interest in partnering with Gecis to make their global operations more efficient.
GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt commended Gecis’ global operations. “Gecis pioneered and set the standard for high-quality business processing around the world,” he said. “We have built a great team. We look forward to being their continued customer and to seeing their dreams realized as they embark on this new and exciting path ahead.”
Established in 1997 to provide internal business support for GE, Gecis has built global operating capabilities supporting nearly 1,000 business processes across each of GE’s 11 business units, including critical finance and accounting, supply-chain management, customer-service support, software development, data modeling and analytics activities. Gecis’ sophisticated IT-enabled operations include fully staffed facilities in North America, Europe, India, and China. Bhasin said Gecis provides its services in 19 languages and is highly experienced in recruiting talent and managing operations in each of these markets. He added that Gecis expects to continue building global delivery systems in new regions of the world.
“The market for process outsourcing continues to experience tremendous growth,” said Mark F. Dzialga, a partner with General Atlantic.
“By serving GE’s businesses with expertise in a diverse range of industry verticals, Gecis has acquired unmatched capability that makes it a highly attractive partner to companies worldwide,” Dzialga continued. “As experienced investors in information technology and technology-enabled services, we look forward to working with Gecis’ outstanding management and contributing to their continued success.”
Oak Hill Managing Partner J. Taylor Crandall added, “Gecis is a powerhouse organization that is well capitalized with an expanding footprint. Gecis has a clear strategy and a compelling business proposition: the ability to perform value-creating business processes for companies, making them more productive and allowing them to focus on their core competencies.”
General Atlantic and Oak Hill, both leading global investors, are equal partners in this transaction.
Gecis has already begun delivering its commitment to quality, built on Six Sigma methodologies, to other major companies. It will accelerate its third-party sales, marketing and delivery capability to significantly expand its client base, especially in China and Eastern Europe, where it began operating two years ago.
GE has been in India since 1902, when it installed India’s first hydroelectric power plant. Today, all 11 of GE’s global businesses have a presence in India – from aircraft engines and power generation, to consumer and commercial financing, medical imaging, television programming and plastics, plus joint ventures with Wipro, State Bank of India, Maruti, and HDFC. GE revenues and orders in India exceeded $1 billion in 2003, and employment, including Gecis, is more than 22,000. In 2000, GE opened the John F. Welch Technology Centre in Bangalore. The 545,000 sq. ft. laboratory employs more than 2,200 scientists, researchers, and engineers and who work daily to develop technology innovations for GE businesses.
“GE is strongly committed to India,” said Immelt. “India is an important market for GE, and we have a tremendously talented workforce there. We look forward to a continued partnership with Gecis while growing our technical resources and businesses in India.” ______
GE (NYSE: GE), based in Fairfield, CT, is a diversified technology, media and financial services company dedicated to creating products that make life better. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, medical imaging, television programming and plastics, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs more than 310,000 people worldwide.
Gecis is a global leader in high-quality business-process services, built with Six Sigma rigor. Gecis was established to serve GE’s business units and supports nearly 1,000 processes at GE. As an independent company, Gecis continues to offer world-class expertise in areas including finance and accounting, supply-chain management, customer-service support and data modeling and analytics to clients globally. Gecis is headquartered near Delhi in Gurgaon, India, and has operations centers in China, Hungary, India and Mexico and employees across North America and Western Europe.
General Atlantic Partners, LLC, is one of the world's leading direct investment firms focused on investing globally in companies providing or using IT in ways that significantly transform the value proposition. GA's investment focus in IT includes providers of IT, IT-related services and users of IT in traditional industries such as healthcare, finance and government. The firm was founded in 1980 and has over $5 billion in capital under management. General Atlantic has invested in over 130 IT companies and has current holdings in over 50 companies, of which almost one-third are based outside the United States. The firm is distinguished within the investment community by its deep experience and expertise in information technology, its global perspective and worldwide presence, its long-term approach to investments, and its commitment to provide sustained strategic assistance for its portfolio companies. General Atlantic has nearly 70 investment professionals among its 130 employees worldwide with offices in Greenwich, New York, Palo Alto, Washington, D.C., London, Düsseldorf, Singapore, Tokyo, Mumbai, Hong Kong, and São Paulo. See www.gapartners.com for additional information.
Oak Hill Capital Partners, L.P. is a private equity firm in which Robert M. Bass is the lead investor. The investment team at Oak Hill has invested in over 50 private equity transactions including American Savings Bank (Washington Mutual), Bell & Howell (Proquest), Wometco Cable Corporation, Williams Scotsman, Stage Stores and Oreck Corporation. Recent investments from their current $1.6 billion buyout fund include Align Technology, TravelCenters of America, WideOpenWest, Blackboard, and Caribbean Restaurants. Oak Hill Capital Partners, L.P. is one the Oak Hill partnerships, each of which has a dedicated management team. In total, the Oak Hill partnerships manage over $10 billion of assets across multiple asset classes, representing capital from leading entrepreneurs, endowments, foundations, corporations, pension funds, and global financial institutions.
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