Vengroff, Williams & Associates, one of the world's largest commercial collection agencies, has sold one of its "order-to-cash" divisions to Paris-based Capgemini, a global IT services and outsourcing company.
Robert Williams, chairman at Vengroff, Williams, will join Capgemini to run the business for Capgemini.
Harvey Vengroff, founder of Sarasota, Fla.-based Vengroff, Williams, said he received $33 million for the unit, which processes accounts receivable, mainly for customers based in Europe and Asia.
The expanding European debt crisis was the main motivation behind the sale, Vengroff said. "Spain and Italy are defaulting on their debt and we have offices in both those countries," he said. "If they default on their debt, how are we going to collect for our clients?"
The acquisition will take 300 Vengroff Williams workers to Capgemini, which already employs 115,000 in 40 countries and generated 2010 revenues of an estimated $6.5 billion. The two companies have been "partnering" for more than a year, according to a statement from Capgemini.
Vengroff Williams has eight outsourcing delivery centers in the U.S. and six in Europe: in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy.
The deal also gives Capgemini a "significant equity stake" in the Vengroff Williams subsidiary that owns the Webcollect O2CPro software. But Vengroff, Williams will retain a majority equity stake.
