WNS acquires HealthHelp for $95 mn

WNS, a global provider of business process management (BPM) services, has acquired Texas-based HealthHelp for $95 million, an entity primarily funded through long-term debt. The acquisition price excludes adjustments for cash, debt and working capital.

NYSE-listed WNS expects the acquisition of HealthHelp to contribute about $2.3 million in revenue in the fiscal year ending 31 March 2017, and to be immediately accretive to earnings excluding about $1.4 million of one-time transaction costs.

''With the acquisition of HealthHelp, WNS has taken a major step forward in strengthening our end-to-end healthcare and insurance BPM offerings. WNS plans to leverage HealthHelp's industry-leading capability in care management to address the needs of payor, provider and insurance organisations,'' said Keshav Murugesh, WNS' chief executive officer.

''HealthHelp's deep industry expertise, differentiated market approach and extensive use of technology and analytics make this asset an excellent fit for WNS. In combination with our existing strengths, we believe there are significant opportunities to cross-sell services and create state-of-the-art solutions for the BPM industry,'' he added.

Founded in 1999 and based in Houston, Texas, HealthHelp employs about 400 medical and operational professionals in the US. The company offers services to both customers and providers of healthcare to help improve patient outcomes and drive long-term sustainable cost savings for the healthcare industry.

''We believe that together, our firms will be able to successfully address the rapidly evolving and expanding needs of the healthcare industry. We look forward to jointly creating new and enhanced industry-specific solutions which should enable us to reduce the long-term costs of healthcare, improve outcomes for payors, providers and patients, and grow our business,'' Cherrill Farnsworth, HealthHelp's CEO, said.

HealthHelp delivers solutions by combining a proprietary technology platform rooted in evidence-based medical research, high-end predictive analytics, and deep healthcare industry expertise. The company provides benefits management across several key specialty healthcare areas, including radiology, cardiology, oncology, sleep care, orthopedics, and pain management.