The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said it has successfully exited its investment in CallPoint New Europe after attracting Canadian telecommunications leader Telus.

In July 2011, the EBRD bought a EUR 3 M stake in CallPoint, which has 1,000 employees based in Bulgaria and Romania and specializes in contact centre and business process outsourcing (BPO).

The Sofia-based company works in 28 languages and has more than 50 clients across Europe and the US, including businesses in the travel, e-commerce, IT, pharmaceutical and financial services sectors. Its services include customer support, telemarketing and marketing surveys.

Earlier this month EBRD sold its minority stake in CallPoint to Telus International, the global arm of Telus Corporation, which is seeking to expand its European operations.

"The EBRD's involvement, which began at a time when alternative sources of investor financing were scarce, put CallPoint in a better position to attract international interest," said Daniel Berg, EBRD Director, Bulgaria.

"With such a large strategic investor, CallPoint's future success is well established."

The Bulgarian group, established in 2004, seeks to provide a European alternative to the outsourcing centres that have sprung up across Asia in particular. It caters to a diverse European client base, offering its services in all the languages spoken in the European Union as well as Russian and Turkish.

The EBRD purchase of a stake in CallPoint was its first investment in the Bulgarian BPO sector and also the first small equity investment in Bulgaria utilising the EBRD – Italy Local Enterprise Facility (LEF). LEF was introduced in Bulgaria from January 2011, following several successful years in other countries around the Balkans.