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Washington, D.C., April 12, 2010—
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and HSBC Latin America Partners led an investment of up to $20 million to support the regional and global expansion of Grupo ASSA, a leading Latin American information technology and outsourcing services company.
IFC will provide up to $10 million in equity and mezzanine investments to Grupo ASSA. HSBC Latin America Partners, a private equity fund sponsored by HSBC Capital, along with a consortium of other private investors will provide up to another $10 million. The financing will help Grupo ASSA improve the business process transformation of its clients with a multisourcing delivery platform in Latin America. It also will contribute to the growth of the region’s information technology sector, which is about 3 percent of the worldwide IT market.
“We welcome this equity round which will support Grupo ASSA’s goal to triple in size over the next four years,” said Roberto Wagmaister, Chairman and CEO of Grupo ASSA. “It will also help consolidate our position as one of the leaders in Latin America’s high-value IT services and outsourcing industry.”
The investment will support Grupo ASSA’s plans to augment talent in Latin America and build new delivery centers there. The company has developed an innovative business model that helps customers streamline their operations by integrating business processes, applications, people, and technology. This was a key differentiating factor in the consortium’s decision to make the investment.
Mohsen Khalil, Director for Information and Communication Technologies of IFC and the World Bank, said, “Our investment in Grupo ASSA will provide long-term growth capital to help the company meet its goals and strengthen the IT services market in Latin America.”
Headquartered in Buenos Aires, Grupo ASSA has operations in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico, as well as in Europe and the United States. It employs more than 1,000 consultants in the region and expects this figure to top 2,500 under its expansion plan.
Though the vast majority of IT offshoring has gone to India, Latin America’s outsourcing and IT services are becoming increasingly attractive to the United States and European companies seeking to gain a competitive advantage from geographic proximity, the efficiency of operating in the same time zone, and the benefits of an educated labor force.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Our new investments totaled $14.5 billion in fiscal 2009, helping channel capital into developing countries during the financial crisis. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
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About HSBC Latin America Partners
Established in 2007, HSBC Latin America Partners is a Private Equity Fund sponsored by HSBC Capital (USA) Inc. With professionals based in São Paulo and New York, HSBC Latin America Partners invests in small to mid size companies across Latin America, with a primary focus on Brazil and Mexico. HSBC Capital is part of the HSBC Group, one of the world’s leading financial institutions. For more information, visit
www.hsbc.com
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About Grupo ASSA
Grupo ASSA is a consulting and outsourcing Company that helps customers with their business process transformation through Information Technology. Grupo ASSA serves multi-Latin and leading local companies with a multisourcing delivery model, improving their SAP, Oracle and custom applications and integrating them with leading edge technologies. Founded in 1992, Grupo ASSA is one of Latin America’s leading IT outsourcing providers and serves over 40,000 SAP and Oracle-JDEdwards customer end-users in more than 30 countries through a nearshore-offshore delivery model from its competency centers in Latin America. Grupo ASSA's clients are primarily from the global manufacturing, consumer product, health care and retail vertical markets. For more information, visit
www.grupoassa.com
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