mumbai diversified conglomerate essar group on sunday announced acquisition of agc networks formerly avaya globalconnect from avaya a global leader in enterprise communications systems the essar group through its subsidiaries will pay nearly 45 million rs 2062 crore to buy avayas 591 controlling stake in the bselisted agc networks valuing the whole company at about rs 350 crorethe acquisition is being done through essar services holdings eshl essar capital finance private ecf along with eshl persons acting in concert would now come out with an open offer for an additional 20 stake in agc networks at a price determined under sebis takeover code assuming all shares are tendered in the open offer the total size of the open offer will be approximately rs 78 crore aparup sengupta md global ceo aegis said in a conference call aegis is the bpo arm of the essar group edelweiss capital was the sole advisor to the transactionon friday agc networks stock on the bse ended at rs 278 however at rs 245 per share essars price of acquisition is at about 12 discount to the current market price along with the indian operations of agc networks essar is also buying the australian and new zealand businesses of the company sengupta said agc networks is a converged communication solution provider focused on the indian and the australian markets the company employs approximately 500 people and the current management is expected to continue and spearhead the business essar in a short span has become a key player in the si space and would benefit immensely from the depth and width of expertise agc networks has we have a definitive plan to grow this business as we aim for bigger chunks of customer spends sengupta saidas per bse data for the quarter ended march 2010 agc networks had a net profit of rs 93 crore from a total revenue of rs 1313 crore the essar group is a leading player in sectors such as steel oil gas power communications shipping ports logistics construction and minerals with operations in more than 20 countries across five continents the group employs 60000 people with revenues of 15 billion aegis on the other hand is an outsourcing services partner for more than 135 clients