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information technology and outsourcing firm IPVG Corp.
said it will wait until December 7 if US-based
PeopleSupport Inc., a major player in the business
process outsourcing industry, will accept its offer to
buy them for $355 million in cash.
IPVG has
teamed up with AO Capital Partners Ltd. to acquire
PeopleSupport, which has major operations in the
Philippines. The buyers have agreed to infuse and raise
necessary debt and equity funding to bankroll the
proposed acquisition.
Based on
the acquisition proposal to PeopleSupport chairman and
president Lance Rosenzweig, IPVG and AO capital would
buy PeopleSupport in an all-cash transaction at $15 per
share. PeopleSupport is a listed on the Nasdaq market.
“This
purchase price represents a 28-percent premium to the
company’s 60-day weighted average closing price of
$11.72,” said IPVG in a disclosure to the Philippine
Stock Exchange.
In the
same proposal, the buyers and PeopleSupport would enter
into a transaction pursuant to which PeopleSupport would
eventually become a subsidiary of IPVG.
“We
believe that this proposal offers an attractive
opportunity to PeopleSupport’s stockholders,” IPVG said.
IPVG
chief executive Enrique Y. Gonzalez earlier divulged
plans of tapping a syndicated loan facility before the
end of the year to raise funds for continued expansion
here and abroad.
Apart
from an available equity fund of P800 million and a
$7-million guaranteed loan from PhilExim, Gonzalez said
the forthcoming loan will help IPVG’s core operating
units to expand their operations organically and through
acquisitions.
Wholly
owned unit, IP Converge Data Center Inc. for instance,
will buy a carrier neutral, telco-grade internet data
center in Singapore and data-center facilities in Hong
Kong.
“With
this, IPVG’s communications business is positioned as a
regionally integrated data-center provider in
South East Asia, and capable of satisfying the regional requirements
of large multinationals and enterprises,” Gonzalez said.
Meanwhile, online gaming business arm IP E-Games will
enter the Vietnam online games market through Cyberworld
Corp., a fully licensed on-line games publisher in
Vietnam.
“We have
secured the licensing rights for RAN ONLINE and O2Jam
for the Vietnam market, and expect to replicate the same
success that we have achieved in the Philippines with
these two market leading products.
Vietnam
is comparable to the Philippines in terms of a market
size of 88 million people, 15 million internet users and
4 million online gamers. However,
Vietnam gamers produced more than double the gaming activity
than Filipino gamers. This is an extremely exciting
market for us,” he added.
Locally,
IP E-Games continues to be a leader in the on-line games
space despite an increasingly competitive environment.
It has surpassed the 5 million registered subscriber
mark, and command more than 50-percent screen share at
the Internet café level.
IP-Contact Center (IPCCO), IPVG’s business process
outsourcing arm, meanwhile, successfully took over the
assets of Global Stride and has managed the turnaround
of the 260-seat facility from a loss, to a positive cash
flow.
“IPCCO
revenues have grown 322 percent quarter on quarter from
P5.8 million in the second quarter to P24.7 million in
the third quarter. We expect our BPO business to make
even bigger strides over the next few months as we
complete acquisitions in this space,” Gonzalez
explained.
For the
third quarter, IPVG registered a net income of P76
million versus a loss of P51 million in the same period
last year. Revenues, on the other hand, amounted to
P277.6 million.
With the
strong performance displayed for the first three
quarters, IPVG is bullish about closing the year with a
net profit of P200 million and revenues of P1 billion. |
