Essar Group-backed Black Box is in early talks to acquire Nasdaq-listed Aeries Technology, sources told CNBC-TV18. A deal could value Aeries at $70-90 million.
The talks are at an early stage, according to the sources. The deal structure, funding and timeline have not been finalised. It is also not yet clear whether Black Box would buy the whole company or a controlling stake.
CNBC-TV18 has reached out to Black Box and Aeries for comment. Its response is awaited.
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Aeries currently has a market capitalisation of about $36 million. A deal at $70-90 million would mean a significant premium for its shareholders.
That figure is still a fraction of what Aeries was valued at when it went public. The company signed a $656 million business combination with the SPAC Worldwide Webb Acquisition Corp in March 2023. The deal closed in November 2023, and the combined company began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker AERT. Like many companies that listed through SPACs in that period, Aeries saw its stock fall sharply after the listing.
The road to its current market value has been bumpy. Earlier this year, Aeries faced the risk of being delisted from Nasdaq after its share price stayed below $1 for an extended period. It carried out a 1-for-8 share consolidation in June and regained compliance with Nasdaq’s listing rules in July.
A buyer with a strategic interest could offer Aeries shareholders an exit at a better price than the market is currently placing on the stock.
Aeries is based in Mumbai and provides outsourcing and offshoring services, often working alongside private equity partners. In practice, it helps companies set up and run their offshore operations, including global capability centres (GCCs). It has delivery teams in India and Mexico.
The company returned to profit in FY26. It reported a net profit of $3.5 million, against a loss of $21.6 million in FY25. Revenue for the year was $70 million and adjusted EBITDA was $8.3 million, a margin of 11.9%. Aeries has guided for FY27 revenue of $80-84 million, which would mean growth of roughly 14-20%.
Black Box builds and manages IT infrastructure for large enterprises, from networks to data centres. Aeries would take it a step further, into running offshore operations for clients. That kind of business usually brings longer contracts and recurring revenue.
The market Aeries serves is growing quickly. According to the Zinnov-Nasscom GCC Landscape 2026, India had 2,117 GCCs as of FY2026, employing about 2.36 million people and generating an estimated $98.4 billion in revenue. The client base is also widening. Large enterprises drove the first wave of GCC growth, and now more mid-market companies and unicorns are setting up GCCs in India too. Those are exactly the kind of PE-backed mid-sized firms Aeries works with.
If the deal goes through, it would be Black Box’s second overseas acquisition this year. During the June quarter, the company bought Brazil’s 2S Inovações Tecnológicas.
Black Box reported Q1FY27 revenue of ₹1,719 crore, up 24% from a year earlier. Net profit rose 18% to ₹55.9 crore, and EBITDA was up 38% to ₹160 crore.
Black Box has done this before. In 2019, Essar’s AGC Networks bought Nasdaq-listed Black Box Corporation in the US. The deal took Black Box Corporation private and added about $600 million to AGC’s revenue. AGC later renamed itself Black Box Ltd. If the Aeries talks go through, it would be the second time the company has bought a Nasdaq-listed business.
This story will be updated once the companies respond.