On October 18, 2021, CCI approved the acquisition of up to 100% of the issued share capital of Global Content Alpha Partners Holdco Pte. Ltd. (‘GCAPH’) from its existing shareholders by Starnmeer B.V. (‘Starnmeer’).^[1]

Starnmeer, a recently incorporated entity, is ultimately owned and controlled by funds comprising of the Baring Asia Private Equity Fund VII, a fund affiliated with Baring Private Equity Asia Pte. Ltd. (‘BPEA’). BPEA is an international private equity firm with a focus on private equity investments in Asia. Affiliates of BPEA’s group currently inter alia hold investments in various entities that are engaged in the provision of information technology (‘IT’) and IT-enabled services (‘ITeS’) in India.

GCAPH is also engaged in the provision of services within the IT and ITeS sectors (more specifically, business processing outsourcing (‘BPO’) services) and caters to customers that are engaged in the communications, media, and services (‘CMS’) sector and education sector. In India, GCAPH is present through its subsidiaries LearningMate Solutions Private Limited, SPI Technologies India Private Limited, Scope e-Knowledge Center Private Limited, and Scientific Publishing Services Private Limited.

For its assessment, CCI considered the, (i) market for IT services and ITeS in India at the broad level; (ii) segment of BPO services in India at the narrower level; and (iii) the segment of provision of IT & ITeS to customers engaged in the CMS sector in India and the segment of provision of BPO services to customers engaged in the CMS sector in India, at the narrowest level. CCI noted that the parties’ presence in the identified markets/segments was not significant, and these markets/segments were characterised by the presence of several players which will continue to pose competitive constraints. CCI also noted the parties’ submission that none of the acquirer’s portfolio companies had any existing supply relationships with GCAPH. Accordingly, CCI concluded that the proposed combination was unlikely to cause an Appreciable Adverse Effect on Competition (‘AAEC’) in India and approved the proposed combination under Section 31(1) of the Act.

[1] Combination Registration No. C-2021/09/871.