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Capgemini to Acquire WNS for $3.3B, Tripling BPO Revenue and Accelerating AI Ambitions

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Capgemini acquires WNS to accelerate its journey toward intelligent operations in BPO

On July 7, Capgemini announced its intent to acquire WNS for $3.3 billion. The acquisition will not only add scale to the company’s business process outsourcing (BPO) capabilities with more than 64,000 employees but also provide Capgemini with a broader client base. TBR estimates that Capgemini’s BPO revenue was $597 million in 2024, and WNS had $1.3 billion in BPO revenue in the same period, meaning acquiring WNS would more than triple Capgemini’s revenue in the segment. If the acquisition is approved, Capgemini will leverage WNS’ client base to jump-start its intelligent operations model, going beyond the traditional BPO model dependent on labor arbitrage and introducing generative AI (GenAI) and agentic AI capabilities to build autonomous workflows.

 

The acquisition undoubtedly serves as an important stepping stone to transform Capgemini’s BPO offerings, which are housed in its Operations & Engineering segment, yet Capgemini must be strategic with its approach, balancing new clients’ expectations with the introduction of incremental GenAI and agentic AI capabilities. Capgemini’s recent investments in partner-enabled portfolio offerings position the company well for a large change in the segment, such as its new agentic AI offerings announced with Google Cloud in April and its NVIDIA NIM-powered industry-specific agentic AI solutions and agentic gallery. During Capgemini’s analyst session on the WNS acquisition, the company disclosed it had more than €900 million in GenAI bookings in 2024. Leveraging the acquisition to stimulate organic growth, however, will require Capgemini to be mindful of service quality during the integration process while continuing to build out its portfolio offerings to secure new bookings.

Careful integration will create synergies, but persistent portfolio investments and well-timed headcount adjustments will support new revenue model

Although Capgemini is no stranger to large acquisitions, it does not complete them often. In the past 10 years, Capgemini has only completed a couple of other similar-size purchases. Capgemini purchased IGATE in 2015, which at the time generated $1.3 billion in revenue and added 30,000 professionals. In 2020 Capgemini completed the acquisition

 

of Altran at €3.6 billion with €3.2 billion in revenue and approximately 50,000 employees. Capgemini purchased Altran with the intent of using the company’s intelligent industry solutions as well as bringing more transformation capabilities in AI, cloud, digital, edge computing and IoT. Altran also brought new capabilities in engineering and R&D services. The acquisition of Altran fueled a 71.8% year-to-year growth rate in Capgemini’s Operations & Engineering segment in 2Q20. Following the completion of the acquisition, the company added new solutions to its portfolio to maintain momentum.

 

In 4Q20, Capgemini released a set of intelligent industry offerings in 5G and edge as well as in driving automation systems. After completing the integration of Altran and capitalizing on the new synergies, the company formed the Capgemini Engineering segment, which incorporated the former Altran business. In 4Q21 Capgemini’s Operations & Engineering revenue increased 9.1%, and overall corporate revenue grew 15% year-to-year, of which 14.1% was organic. Although Capgemini was able to see initial growth in the segment, albeit lagging the company’s overall growth, the segment’s revenue is not much higher today. In 4Q21 Operations & Engineering revenue was €1.5 billion, and in 4Q24 it was slightly higher at €1.6 billion. If Capgemini wants to leverage WNS as part of its AI strategy, it may need to be more vigilant about sustaining momentum.

 

TBR expects Capgemini to take a similar approach with WNS as it did with Altran, first taking time to integrate the business while building out its GenAI and agentic AI capabilities, then adjusting its workforce to account for any talent overlap and prepare for structural changes brought about by increased automation. Capgemini will try to make its new workforce leaner, especially as WNS is expected to expand total headcount by 18.8% while only increasing revenue by 5.5%. Some of the adjustments will come naturally as hyperautomation capabilities will cannibalize traditional labor arbitrage. On the other hand, Capgemini will have more room to introduce new GenAI and agentic AI offerings in BPO, providing the company with the opportunity to learn best practices in a lower-stakes environment before introducing the technology to its other segments, Strategy & Transformation and Applications & Technology.

The BPO segment is an easier area for companies to test GenAI and agentic AI offerings and apply those lesson

s learned to other segments. Making an acquisition in this segment, as Capgemini has announced, is a way to get a head start, and other peers could follow suit. For example, Deloitte has prioritized expanding its Operate nearshore and offshore resources, but completing an acquisition of one of WNS’ peers, such as Genpact or EXL, would provide the company with more opportunity to innovate with a broader client base.

 

As IT companies seek to expand business services operations to boost their ability to deliver new technologies, they are competing on market share. Other companies, particularly Accenture, already have a much bigger presence in the segment. In 2024 Accenture’s BPO revenue was $10.7 billion; even with acquisitions, this level will be difficult for most other companies to attain. Potential investments from other firms that already have a large BPO business could threaten Capgemini’s strategy.

 

As part of Capgemini’s intelligent operations vision, the company wants to implement an outcome-based pricing model. Although this is a good long-term goal, the company faces many hurdles. Of WNS’ total revenue, 24% is derived from non-FTE-based pricing. However, the acquisition will greatly increase headcount, and Capgemini still needs to ramp up its agentic AI and GenAI offerings, meaning that implementing outcome-based BPO pricing is still years away. WNS will likely bring efficiencies to the company in other ways. WNS’ annual revenue growth has slowed in recent years, from year-to-year growth of 7.7% in 2023 to 1.1% year-to-year in 2024. Yet the company has a healthy operating margin, averaging 10.8% in 2024 and reaching 15% in 1Q25. The slowdown makes it a well-timed sell for WNS shareholders as BPO’s operating model is changing, but the company holds value in its wide client base.

 

WNS has a strong pipeline with a backlog-to-revenue ratio of 3.2. Capgemini has the opportunity to use this acquisition to facilitate innovation and deliver its emerging GenAI and agentic AI capabilities to clients, which are increasingly searching for more operational efficiencies. The acquisition could bring capabilities beyond initial inorganic revenue if Capgemini maintains service quality while investing in emerging capabilities in hyperautomation.