Teleperformance Acquires beCogent in the United Kingdom

PARIS — Teleperformance, the world leader in the outsourced contact center market, announced today the acquisition of 100% of the equity of UK-based beCogent.

Based in Scotland, beCogent has recognized expertise and deep experience in numerous industry sectors, with an emphasis on the Retail, Financial Services and Telco/ISP industries. beCogent has around 3,000 employees at its four call centers in Airdrie, Erskine, Kilmarnock and Glasgow and forecast 2010 revenue of approximately GBP 50 million.

With this new operation in Scotland, a region known for its technologically skilled and multi-lingual workforce, Teleperformance is significantly extending its geographic footprint in the UK. In becoming the second largest operator of outsourced contact centers in the UK, Teleperformance will be able to serve all parts of the UK more effectively and deliver the most comprehensive offer in the market.

Jeff Smith, Chief Executive and Chairman of Teleperformance UK, said: "Teleperformance is really happy to expand its footprint in the UK and to gain a strong foothold in Scotland. We plan to use the combined strength of beCogent and Teleperformance Group to develop yet more strongly our UK presence, taking advantage of our incomparable strength across both our onshore and offshore networks."

Dermot Jenkinson, the Founder and Executive Chairman of beCogent, said: "The contact centre world has always been a very dynamic and rapidly changing industry. Although I was confident that beCogent as a well established business with a very strong reputation could continue to prosper independently, I believe that the DNA of beCogent combined with the strength and scale of Teleperformance will create a truly world class business in the UK and allow us to take advantage of the opportunities that will present themselves in both the private and public sectors over the next few years.

About Teleperformance
Teleperformance, the world’s leading provider of outsourced CRM and contact center services, has been serving companies around the world rolling out customer acquisition, customer care, technical support and debt collection programs on their behalf. In 2009, the Teleperformance Group achieved EUR1.848 billion revenues (US$2.6 billion — average exchange rate at December 31, 2009: EUR1 = US$1.39). The Group operates about 83,000 computerized workstations, with more than 112,000 employees (Full-Time Equivalents) across 276 contact centers in 51 countries and conducts programs in more than 66 different languages and dialects on behalf of major international companies operating in various industries. www.teleperformance.com