DANVILLE – In May, employees at the Walgreen accounting center in Danville will still be handling the accounting for the nation's largest drugstore chain, but not as Walgreen employees.

On Monday, Walgreen announced that it signed a 10-year agreement with the worldwide company Genpact, which will handle the drugstore chain's accounting services.

Under the agreement, Genpact bought the Danville accounting facility at 1901 E. Voorhees St. and will maintain, and possibly grow, employment levels, according to Walgreen and Genpact officials.

That means in May, 500 workers at the Walgreen facility, which handles accounting for Walgreen's 7,149 drugstores in all 50 states, will become employees of Genpact, an international company with 37,000 employees around the globe providing a variety of clients with back-office services, from accounting to human resources to debt recovery and more.

Genpact Vice President Ed Berenblum was at the Danville facility on Monday to announce the changes to Walgreen employees.

"This is a great opportunity for a three-way partnership between Genpact, Walgreens and the Danville community," said Berenblum, who added that Genpact tends to be able to improve the services it provides its clients by lowering costs and improving technology and processes.

He said changes for the employees will be minimal, and pay and benefits will be comparable. He also said employees can expect to learn new skills through training provided by the company and can expect improvements in technology and new opportunities to grow.

He said the expectation is that the Danville facility will recruit and serve new clients throughout the world in addition to Walgreen.

Tom Hanrahan, director of accounting at the Danville site, said about 200 employees at the facility are not affected and will remain Walgreen employees, because they handle other services, such as information technology, for the drug store chain.

According to Walgreen officials, over the next six to 18 months, 300 jobs may be affected as part of the transition of accounting work, but Hanrahan said those jobs are at Walgreen's other accounting facilities, including the site in Deerfield and several others around the country.

This move by Walgreen is part of its "Rewiring for Growth" initiative to find ways the company can be more effective and efficient in support of its growth strategy, according to company officials. Financial terms of the agreement between Walgreen and Genpact were not disclosed.

Wade Miquelon, Walgreen executive vice president and chief financial officer, said Genpact's proven ability to bring efficiency to finance and accounting processes and its commitment to Danville employees were key factors in the decision to forge the agreement.

"This move will help us improve cost productivity and facilitate our growth strategies, while maintaining an agile and service-focused organization," Miquelon said in a news release.

The Danville accounting center will be Genpact's largest service center in North America.

Genpact's North American headquarters are in New York with the other two processing centers in Pennsylvania and California.

Genpact began in 1997 as a business unit within General Electric, providing business process services to GE's businesses. In 2005, it became an independent company, and in August 2007, Genpact was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and has grown rapidly since then, expanding its services and client base.

At the end of the 10-year agreement, Berenblum said the expectation is that Genpact will continue providing the same services for another 10 years. He said the company has made a substantial investment in the community buying the Danville facility and maintaining the employees and will continue to invest money and time in the site through employee training and technology improvements.

Hanrahan, director of accounting at the Danville site, said he's very pleased with the change.

"It's a win-win for everybody," he said.

Danville Mayor Scott Eisenhauer said he and other city officials have met with Genpact officials, and he's very happy with the news.

"First and foremost, I'm happy that each of the employees will be retained and that in the meeting with officials from Genpact, they seem very sincere about the opportunities for growth in this community," he said.