IT services supplier Capita buys contact centre business Ventura for £65m

Capita has bought contact centre business Ventura for £65m in a further sign of IT and BPO consolidation.

The UK-based acquisition gives Capita private sector clients O2, Orange, British Gas, Tesco Bank and Google, as well as customers in the public sector such as the Department of Work & Pensions.

According to Ovum's Top 5 IT service providers to the UK and Ireland, prior to the Ventura acquisition, Capita had the third biggest revenues. Ventura will now add another £156m in revenues to Capita.

Paul Pindar, CEO of Capita, said the deal will complement existing customer contracts and enable Capita to broaden its services to these customers.

Lee Ayling, outsourcing partner at KPMG, said the acquisition makes sense because Capita does a lot of complex business process deals, especially in the public sector, which the Ventura contact centre resources will compliment.

Peter Brudenal, lawyer at Lawrence Graham, said the deal is part and parcel of consolidation. He said this could be a trend and large service providers attempt to become "more like Accenture."

IT service providers and BPO suppliers could increasingly come together as large companies target areas to grow post-recession. "This could be a sign of how service providers are trying to get a bit more creative about what they are doing."

Earlier this year Indian BPO supplier Genpact acquired IT services firm Headstrong.