BA's former Indian offshore unit floats on NYSE

Silicon.com
The former Indian offshore outsourcing unit of British Airways (BA) has raised more than $255m after completing its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). WNS floated at $20 per share on its opening day on the NYSE on 26 July, with shares reaching a high of $25 earlier this week and giving the company a market capitalisation of almost $1bn. The 12.7 million shares offered represent just over 28 per cent of the company. WNS, which reported $202.6m in revenue for the last year, was originally set up by BA as a wholly owned captive business process outsourcing (BPO) division in Mumbai in 1996 to support the airline's back-office operations. The company started offering services to other airlines in 1999 and became independent, with venture capital funds giving private equity firm Warburg Pincus a majority stake in WNS in 2002. more...