Listed call center to acquire majority stake in software firm

Listed call center to acquire majority stake in software firm
By Zinnia B. De La Peña
The Philippine Star 03/04/2006

Paxys Inc., the only call center listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange, plans to acquire a majority stake in Global Idealogy Corp. (GIC), a leading provider of corporate mobile software applications in the domestic pharmaceutical industry.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Paxys said it signed an agreement to acquire over 4.4 million common shares of GIC at P2.25 per share and 2.15 million warrants at 25 centavos each. The total transaction price is north P10.45 million, the company said.

Upon the full exercise of the warrants, Paxys will own up to 15.81 percent of GIC’s outstanding capital stock.

After that, Paxys will infuse P7.5 million into GIC through a subscription of new common shares which will bring its ownership to 23.85 percent.

The cash infusion, equivalent to 3.33 million GIC common shares, is intended to partially finance GIC’s regional expansion and product diversification plans.

Paxys said it intends to increase its stake in GIC to 51 percent within the first half of the year through a follow-up transaction involving the purchase of additional common shares and warrants.

According to Paxys, the acquisition of GIC is intended to support its strategic intent to broaden and deepen its product and service offerings in the business processing outsourcing (BPO) sector.

Together with its recent investment in ScopeWorks Asia, a data transcription company, the acquisition of GIC is envisioned to complement Paxys’ staple call center business under its subsidiary, Advanced Contact Solutions Inc.

GIC is a software provider of corporate applications anchored on mobile and emerging technologies.

Since 2000, GIC through its wholly-owned unit Medi Data Inc., had pioneered the development of mobile corporate applications that can be ported on all available handheld PDAs and recently, including smartphones,

GIC, headed by its chairman, former Finance Secretary Roberto de Ocampo, also offers a comprehensive suite of end-to-end corporate software applications geared for the consumer, manufacturing and services sectors. It currently provides IT-enabled outsourcing services to US-based companies.