Colorado based Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firm Startek has made a deal with New York based holding company MDC Partners Inc to acquire the latter’s BPO sector, Accent Marketing Services. Accent which currently boasts an operational compliment of over 2300 employees in six delivery centres across the US and in Jamaica and caters to several industries including telecom, retail and financial services was sold for $16 million in the deal. Startek intends to diversify the company’s clientele and to build the resources necessary to cater to the needs of the clients. “The purchase builds upon our strategic plan to diversify our client base and enhance our customer engagement solutions,” said Chad Carlson, President and CEO of Startek.
Accent’s $67 million annual revenue will provide a reasonable boost to Startek’s revenue which is largely dependent on the telecom industry clients of the company. Telecom companies alone make up for about 80% of Startek’s revenue every year. But this huge reliance on the telecom companies has pushed the company to the brink of bankrupcy several times in the past four years leading to the closing of several call centres across the United States. Stratek of course has recovered from all such crisis situations and has managed to boost its revenue margins in all the industries it specializes in. Apart from the revenue and clientele Startek will also benefit from Accent’s Customer Engagement Agency model which will boost the company’s analytical capability.
MDU Partners motive behind this sale was to free up funds and focus on areas where the company would be able to reap more profits with ease. “The sale of Accent allows MDC to emerge as an even faster-growing, higher margin and less capital-intensive business overall, centered on the activities that we expect will deliver the most growth in value to our shareholders over the long-term,” said David Doft, Chief Financial Officer of MDC Partners.
