Integreon Managed Solutions Inc., a business process outsourcing (BPO) unit of the Ayala group focused on knowledge and legal data outsourcing services, said Wednesday it had signed a seven-year ?50-million service agreement with its first client in the United Kingdom.

It announced the launch of its British onshore-shared services center for the legal market through Osborne Clarke, which it described as one of top 30 UK law firms, with more than 400 lawyers.

Osborne Clark has worked closely with Integreon to help design the suite of services to be provided from the shared services center, where it is scheduled to become Integreon?s first client beginning March, an Integreon statement said.

As part of the contract, 75 business services professionals will move from Osborne Clarke to Integreon. In turn, Integreon will support Osborne Clarke and other law firms? Middle Office needs, including technology and business intelligence services; knowledge and information management; transcription, secretarial and word processing services.

To oversee the new expansion, former Osborne Clarke chief operating officer Chris Bull has joined Integreon as chief operating officer for Europe, reporting directly to the chief executive, Liam Brown, the statement said.

Bull will oversee the management of the new shared-services center as well as Integreon?s existing European business, it said. Bull has served on the board of Osborne Clarke for 12 years, it added.

Osborne Clarke has initiated discussions with affected employees as required by the UK Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, the statement said.

No redundancies are expected, it said.

Integreon said it was also in active discussions with other law firms and corporations on taking advantage of the economic benefits of the shared-services approach that the facility would offer.

It said it expected to grow its new UK location substantially, open centers in other European locations, hire additional associates and managers and gain market share in the European legal and knowledge services outsourcing market.

The UK-based operations will be located in Bristol and will complement Integreon?s current onshore US delivery centers in Fargo, North Dakota (acquired in 2006) and New York City (acquired in 2008), which employ 300 staff, and its offshore delivery centers in Mumbai, Delhi and Manila, which employ about 1,700 staff, the statement said.

Integreon provides a range of ?Middle Office? professional support services to many law firms, including Clifford Chance, DLA Piper LLC (US) and Sonnenschein, one of America?s leading law firms. Edited by INQUIRER.net