Vol. XXI, No. 163 [ Business World Online ]
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
CONTACT CENTER operator Paxys, Inc. is poised to acquire more than 50% of a local information technology (IT), software development, licensing and consultancy company.
Paxys, which wholly owns the 7,000-seat call center Advanced Contact Solutions, Inc. or ACS, told the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) yesterday that it had entered a subscription agreement with Ubaldo Reidenbach Solutions Inc. (URSI).
Under the agreement, Paxys would be purchasing 27,100 shares of Ubaldo Reidenbach at a total transaction price of P6.5 million.
The call center firm also agreed to further increase its stake in URSI to between 59% and 63% at an aggregate price of P3.5 million.
"The price per share shall depend on [Ubaldo Reidenbach] achieving certain performance targets by the end of the year," Paxys Corporate Information Officer Christopher B. Maldia told the PSE in a disclosure.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Paxys investor relations head Guiles R. Katigbak said the investment in Ubaldo Reidenbach would support the infrastructure of the company’s business process outsourcing (BPO) subsidiaries, providing cost-effective software solutions as well as create a new potential revenue source for the firm.
"[Information technology] has always been a big part of Paxys business. It is going to help us not only in our call center business, but it would also create a new revenue stream. By itself, IT is also a high-value industry," Mr. Katigbak told BusinessWorld.
Mr. Katigbak said Paxys would likely increase its stake in URSI in 2009.
"It (stock subscription) is just a function of when they would need the capital for the expansion plans they have in the pipeline," Mr. Katigbak said.
But based on current plans, Paxys is not looking at a buyout of Ubaldo Reidenbach, he said.
Ubaldo Reidenbach specializes in Linux and Open Source.
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