Capgemini to buy outsourcing firm WNS for $3.3 billion in AI push
The price translating to $76.50 per WNS share represents a 17 per cent premium compared to their last closing price on July 3 and does not include WNS's financial debt, Capgemini said on Monday.
The deal equips Capgemini to create a consulting business service focused on helping enterprises improve their processes and cost efficiency with the use of artificial intelligence, namely generative AI and agentic AI, which it expects to attract significant investments.
Capgemini's interest in India-based WNS, whose services include business process outsourcing and data analytics, was first reported by Reuters in April.
"WNS brings ... its high growth, margin accretive and resilient Digital Business Process Services (BPS) ... while further increasing our exposure to the US market," Capgemini CEO Aiman Ezzat said in the statement.
WNS's customers include large organizations such as Coca-Cola, T-Mobile and United Airlines.
On a conference call with media and analysts, Ezzat said the acquisition would immediately create cross-selling opportunities between the two companies, mainly in the U.S. and Britain.
"We also see a great opportunity to leverage WNS digital BPS offering, notably in platform and sector expertise in our client base," Ezzat said, adding this was in reference to banking and insurance clients.
Capgemini expects the deal, which is set to be closed by the end of 2025, to be immediately accretive to the group's revenue and operating margin, it said in a press statement.
The acquisition will boost its normalised earnings per share by 4 per cent before synergies in 2026, and by 7 per cent in 2027 post-synergies, it said, with no changes to the outlook for the current year.
Capgemini's shares fell 4 per cent by 0822 GMT, after touching their lowest price in more than two months.
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