New Aegis base to employ 600 people

OUTSOURCING company Aegis is to open a base at Bruntwood’s City Tower building in Manchester which will employ 600 people.

Aegis global chief executive Aparup Sengupta said that the new contact centre will open later this year and will be part of a wider expansion which will see the firm employing some 3,000 people across Europe.

Mr Sengupta said: “We are delighted to be launching our European presence with a new customer centre in Manchester.

“Our strategy is to ensure that people calling our centres get an excellent experience, and we think that generally, the best way to do that is to have a strong onshore presence, rather than having centres offshore. This approach of setting up greenfield centres in our target markets will be at the heart of Aegis’s plans to further expand in other European countries.”

The positions will be filled over the next 18 to 24 months, Aegis said.

Aegis, which has more than 50,000 employees across 50 locations, is part of Indian conglomerate The Essar Group, which this year ought Stanlow oil refinery and has annual revenues of $16bn.

The company offers a range of customer support services to major business sectors including banking, insurance, telecoms, hospitality and healthcare.

Aegis is taking 36,000sq ft of space in City Tower with a view to increasing this to more than 70,000 sq ft in the next four years. It has taken four floors with an option on two more.

Trade and industry minister Lord Green said the firm’s decision to set up its base in the city was “a clear testimony of confidence in the UK economy”.

He added that the investment was “another successful sign of a large Indian conglomerate using the UK as a springboard for global growth”.

Chris Oglesby, chief executive of Bruntwood said all parties had worked hard to get a deal done in just four months.

He said: ” We are really pleased to welcome Aegis to Manchester and are focused on ensuring their business is a success in the city.”

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, said: “This is excellent news for the city. Winning this significant investment shows that Manchester has both the infrastructure and the workforce to attract global businesses to the city.”

Angie Robinson, chief executive of Greater Manchester’s inward investment agency MIDAS added: “We have worked hard to foster a strong working relationship with Aegis and will continue to work closely with them as they settle in, providing support and guidance.”