Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company ("PLDT") announced today that it had entered into an agreement to sell the Business Process Outsourcing ("BPO") businesses owned by its wholly-owned subsidiary - SPi Global Holdings, Inc. ("SPi") - to Asia Outsourcing Gamma Limited, a company controlled by CVC Capital Partners ("CVC"). The sale of the BPO business is expected to be completed by March 2013, after satisfaction of agreed closing conditions. UBS acted as exclusive financial adviser to PLDT.
SPi is one of the world's largest and most diversified BPO service providers in terms of clients, geographic presence, and capabilities. SPi provides domain expertise in the Customer Interaction, Healthcare, and Publishing markets. SPi also provides services across a wide range of industries, including banking and financial services, government, information technology, media, non-profit organizations, retail, and travel. Through its key competencies, SPi supports the vibrant BPO industry worldwide.
PLDT will reinvest some of the proceeds from the sale into Asia Outsourcing Gamma Limited and continue to participate in the growth of the business as a partner of CVC with an approximate 20% stake.
Chairman of PLDT Manuel Pangilinan commented: "We continually review our strategy and our portfolio. The transaction announced today represents an opportunity for us to realize attractive returns for the benefit of the PLDT group and its stakeholders. At the same time, we are very happy to be a 20% partner with CVC in the business going forward as we remain very confident in the long-term prospects of SPi."
Brian Hong, CVC Senior Managing Director, said: "We are happy to be able to partner with PLDT in this transaction and excited to support SPi as it continues to deliver best-in-class BPO services and expanding capabilities to its customers. We see many significant opportunities within the attractive BPO segments that SPi serves and look forward to working with the exceptional team at SPi in continuing to grow the company."
Maulik Parekh, SPi Global President and CEO, said: "We welcome CVC and look forward to working with them as we begin the next phase of growth for SPi. Similarly we are very pleased to be continuing our relationship with PLDT who will remain a shareholder in SPi. We have an excellent team at SPi and a strong business model which I am confident will allow us to capitalize on the significant market opportunities available to us for the benefit of our customers, employees and stakeholders alike."