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THE
board of listed IPVG Corp. has endorsed the
stock-purchase deal between the company and shareholders
of MEGAMobile Inc.
IPVG
purchased 70 percent of the outstanding capital stock of
local mobile technology provider and content developer
MEGAMobile for P6.4 million. The deal was announced on
February 21.
“IPVG’s
investment into MEGAMobile marks our entry into the
mobile content and value-added services sector. This is
an extremely exciting space given the Philippines’
55-million subscriber base and high demand for mobile
content,” said chief executive Enrique Y. Gonzalez.
The
company will further augment its investment in
MEGAMobile by infusing additional capital to strengthen
the latter’s content pipeline, marketing programs and
infrastructure.
MEGAMobile is IPVG’s fifth investment (through
acquisition and signed binding agreement) in a span of
only one year following call-center facilities in the
Philippines of Globalstride Holdings Inc.; IP-Converge
Pte. Ltd.’s Singapore based IDC; Internet security
provider with operations in the US, EMEA and Asia
Prolexic Technologies Inc.; and US-based contact center
with facilities in the US, Panama and the Philippines
Interactive Teleservices Corp.
Gonzalez
said they are also planning to buy two medium-sized
call-center companies before the end of the first half
to further expand its niche in the business-process
outsourcing industry.
He said
talks are now ongoing for the acquisition of a
Philippine-based call center with 1,000 seats. A similar
discussion is happening with an Asian call-center firm.
The
funding for the planned acquisition is already covered,
Gonzalez said.
IPVG
currently operates 2,000 seats via Globalstride Holdings
Inc. and Interactive Teleservices Corp., among others.
The forthcoming acquisitions are expected to further
boost its call-center seats to 4,000.
The
company, whose shares are traded on the Philippine Stock
Exchange, booked a net profit of P200 million in 2007.
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