Apollo Health Street Completes One of the Largest Acquisitions in the Healthcare Business Process Outsourcing Space.

-- Following the acquisition of Zavata, Apollo Health Street becomes one of the largest global healthcare BPO companies --

BLOOMFIELD, N.J. -- Apollo Health Street (AHS), a global healthcare outsourcing solutions provider, today announced the acquisition of Zavata Inc., an Atlanta based Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Enterprise Support (ES) solutions company.

The acquisition will strengthen AHS's position as a leading provider of outsourcing solutions to the healthcare industry and also provide its clients a more comprehensive set of service offerings. This is the fourth acquisition that AHS has made and second in the U.S. provider space.

Both AHS and Zavata have trained professionals in their service centers in the U.S. and India, allowing them to leverage technology, time zone differences and human expertise to deliver the right solutions to their clients. The combined organization will have more than 100 customers and over 2,500 employees spread across multiple locations in the U.S. and India.

The combined organization will be the largest healthcare-focused BPO organization in the country with a significant IT business. AHS sets itself apart from other players by focusing entirely on healthcare, leveraging its ability to deliver value to its clients and having the most extensive experience in adapting the global delivery model to the healthcare industry.

According to Dr. Prathap C. Reddy, Chairman, AHS, every other sector including financial services or manufacturing has benefited from the global delivery model and the U.S. healthcare market is also beginning to take advantage of that. "AHS has always differentiated itself through its deep domain knowledge and healthcare background and the acquisition of Zavata will enable it to further improve the financial strength and liquidity for the healthcare industry, enabling healthcare organizations to focus on their core objective of providing high quality patient care," added Dr. Reddy.

"There are significant synergies to be achieved from this transaction, and the acquisition of Zavata has helped us position AHS as one of the largest, fully integrated healthcare BPO companies in the world with further capabilities in providing enterprise support services," said Sangita Reddy, Managing Director, Apollo Health Street. "In addition to the set of services we already offer, Zavata adds a complementary set of services, including expertise in areas such as Full Business Office and Emergency Medical Transport billing."

The acquisition comes at a time when the U.S. healthcare sector is looking at ways to reduce costs while improving service quality to the end consumer. Commenting on the acquisition, Andrew DeVoe, CEO and President of the AHS group said, "I am excited about the scale, breadth and depth of services and the diversified geographic footprint that this acquisition provides to AHS. We are now a premier healthcare outsourcing services provider with a very strong foundation that provides a robust base and continuity to fundamentally address all the financial concerns for healthcare organizations. Both AHS and Zavata customers will benefit from our combined capabilities in each of our four key businesses - provider, payor, IT and ES."

"I am extremely pleased that Zavata has found a perfect partner in Apollo Health Street. Our business strategies and appetite for growth are very much aligned, and I am confident that this transaction will yield great rewards to our customers and employees," added Satish Sanan, Executive Chairman and CEO of Zavata Inc. Satish will stay on as a consultant in the merged entity, to ensure a smooth integration of Zavata into Apollo Health Street. Zavata's existing customers include hospitals, payors and TPAs in the healthcare business and its employees are located in client centers, and at its offices in Georgia, Pennsylvania, New York, California and Florida, and Hyderabad in India.

Bank of India and Barclays Capital jointly structured and provided the debt financing for this transaction. In the face of multiple offers, the speed, efficiency and thoroughness exhibited by these two banks is a credit to Indian banking system, operating in a highly competitive international financial market.

AHS's dominant position in the healthcare outsourcing sector stems from its unique global delivery model and the deep domain knowledge of the parent organization, Apollo Hospitals group. AHS has been looking at acquisitions, especially in the U.S. as an inorganic growth route while continuing to grow organically at a rate of 65 percent. It has had the continuous support and backing of its strategic investors, One Equity Partners and Temasek Holdings, for its growth and acquisitions plans. "The ideal companies for AHS are those firms that are in the healthcare related BPO business amenable to a global delivery model," added a company source.

Apollo Health Street (AHS) is a leading pure play healthcare outsourcing solutions provider. AHS offers Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and IT services to US healthcare providers, payors, and technology companies. Its IT-based Business Process solutions are designed to increase process efficiencies, improve quality and significantly reduce costs for its clients. With around 1500 employees spread across its offices in New Jersey and the back office in Hyderabad, India, AHS has grown aggressively and is well on track to establish itself as the world's largest pure play healthcare outsourcing company. Leveraging best practices from a wealth of industry expertise, deep US health care experience, a global workforce model, and enabling technologies, AHS clients' realize dramatic and rapid operating income improvement typically yielding a positive return on investment within 60 days.

For More Information, contact Arnab Sen at [e-mail] or 973-566-9800.