A group led by Texas Pacific Group of Fort Worth, TX is in talks to acquire outsourcing giant Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) of Dallas, according to a New York Times report. Quoting sources briefed on the deal, the report said the consortium would pay about $62 a share for the company.
ACS, a leader in BPO and IT outsourcing, had sales of $4.35 billion in fiscal year 2005. Its core business is providing data-processing infrastructure for processing payrolls, maintaining financial records, operating computer-linked customer call centers, handling human resources data, and scheduling shipments from suppliers.
The consortium also includes Bain Capital and the Blackstone Group. The deal had been expected to close as early as the last week of December.
The negotiations come as private equity firms, flush with cash, are showing an increasing interest in smaller and mid-size technology outsourcing firms, which, despite their size, compete against behemoths like IBM and EDS for large contracts. Those long-term contracts, and the resulting stable cash flows, make the companies attractive takeover targets for equity firms, analysts said.
