By Milana Vinn
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Conduent, a business processing outsourcing firm that was spun out of Xerox, is exploring a sale after receiving acquisition interest, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.
The Florham, New Jersey-based company is working with a financial adviser on its talks with potential acquirers, which include private equity firms, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the discussions are confidential.
If the talks are successful, a deal could be signed in the coming weeks, the sources said. Conduent’s shares jumped more than 24% on the news on Friday, hitting a 52-week high before paring some gains, giving it a market value of more than $700 million.
Conduent did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The company was spun off from Xerox in 2016. At the time activist investor Carl Icahn, who took a stake in Conduent, received three board seats at the company. Last year, Conduent bought back Icahn’s stake in the company.
Conduent is a provider of business services that cater to sectors including commercial, government, and transportation. It has contracts with federal and state government agencies, including the U.S. Secret Service.
The company’s technology offerings leverage cloud computing, automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, and help enterprise customers with functions including human resources, cost-cutting, and the processing of payments.
Since becoming an independent company, Conduent has struggled to compete against larger outsourcing services providers. Till Thursday’s close, the company shed nearly three-quarters of its value from the time its shares started trading in January 2017.
The company is scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 12.
(Reporting by Milana Vinn in New YorkEditing by Nick Zieminski)
