Indian conglomerate eyes Canadian call centres

(CBC) - An Indian company that owns two New Brunswick paper mills has begun work to buy a group of call centres that employ thousands of people in that province, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Saskatchewan.

Transworks, which is based in the Indian city of Mumbai, is in talks with the Toronto-based company Minacs, which has operations in four other Ontario communities - Chatham, Oshawa, Peterborough and Pickering - as well as Riverview, N.B., Halifax and Saskatoon.

Transworks is a huge company with interests in everything from woods operations to call centres. It is part of the global conglomerate Aditya Birla that already owns mills in the New Brunswick communities of Nackawic and Atholville.

- Jobs not at risk, Minacs says -

Minacs communications office in Toronto said there was no risk to jobs with the company, which employs about 5,000 people, including 600 in Riverview.

However, Norman Betts, a former New Brunswick finance minister who chairs the board at Minacs, would not say whether those jobs would be preserved under new ownership.

"It is a global business," Betts said.

"So it is not a matter of one replacing the other, it's a matter of one complementing the other to make a much more competitive business that has the opportunity to grow."

- Business group raises questions -

But Ryan Donaghy, a spokesman for Business New Brunswick, said workers should be asking their bosses questions about the deal.

"Hopefully, they're getting answers. And we are going to be asking questions as well."

Minacs' board of directors has been encouraging shareholders to approve the deal.

If accepted, the sale should be finalized by the end of August.

© the CBC, 2006