West Closes Genesys Acquisition

Just as fuel prices rise to record levels, West Corp. said it has wrapped the acquisition of conferencing and collaboration provider Genesys SA

West paid $3.88 per Genesys share, or about $345 million. West will pair Genesys with the InterCall Inc. division, as the companies announced in February.

InterCall will integrate products such as the Genesys Meeting Center into its lineup, a strategy sure to appeal to companies cutting back on travel and, at the same time, enabling employee telecommuting.

West, based in Omaha, Neb., owns several communications holdings, including outsourced contact centers that employ home-based veterans as agents. West’s conferencing division contributed $195 million in sales to the company in the first quarter of 2008, nearly 11 percent more than the same period a year earlier.

Genesys is headquartered in France.