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Teleperformance to Offer Translation Services Following LanguageLine Acquisition

French call center giant Teleperformance is acquiring Silicon Valley firm LanguageLine Solutions LLC for US$1.52 billion to add translation services to its portfolio.
Based in Monterey, California, LanguageLine provides interpretation solutions to dozens of American organizations in the healthcare, insurance, financial services, communications, and government sectors. The company posted US$388 million in revenue for fiscal year 2015.
“It is a superb organization that supports 25,000 clients across the U.S., Canada and the U.K. in more than 240 languages with a sophisticated growing network of approximately 8,000 interpreters,” stated Paulo César Vasques, CEO of Teleperformance.
As well as voice-based interpretations, LanguageLine offers a solution called InSight, which pairs customer-support representatives with interpreters via video link so they can have translated conversations in more than 200 languages.
The French outsourcer says the acquisition not only adds value to its service but also increases its profitability significantly. Once the deal is closed, Teleperformance will add LanguageLine’s solutions to all its delivery centers across the world.
On its website, LanguageLine says it handles 32 million customer interactions every year and manages a network of about 8,000 translators. Teleperformance, by contrast, provides customer care and technical support services in approximately 75 languages.
“We know that Teleperformance, with its global culture and footprint, is the perfect partner to help us write a great new chapter in the history of the language access solutions industry,” said Scott W. Klein, CEO of LanguageLine Solutions.
Teleperformance, headquartered in Paris, said it is buying LanguageLine from Abry Partners and other investors in a debt-financed deal. The company hopes the deal will be closed before the year-end.
With 190,000 employees and 311 contact centers, Teleperformance is one of the top voice-based BPO providers in the world. The company reported US$3.7 billion in annual revenue last year.

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Narayan Ammachchi

News Editor for Nearshore Americas, Narayan Ammachchi is a career journalist with a decade of experience in politics and international business. He works out of his base in the Indian Silicon City of Bangalore.

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