Ayala ventures into BPO, buys stake in eTelecare

XFN-Asia
Last updated 04:32am (Mla time) 06/30/2006

CONGLOMERATE Ayala Corp. has entered the business-process-outsourcing sector with the purchase of an 11-percent stake in eTelecare Global Solutions Inc. for about 800 million pesos.

Newly formed subsidiary LiveIt Solutions Inc. will be Ayala Corp.'s holding company for all its BPO businesses.

The purchase of the eTelecare stake will be done through LiveIt's wholly owned special purpose vehicle New Bridge International Investment Ltd.

eTelecare is one of the top call center companies in Asia, with more than 7,000 employees in 12 call centers in the Philippines and in the US. Its clients are in the telecommunications, electronics, financial and travel industries.

In the first quarter, the call center firm reported revenues of 41 million dollars and operating income of 3.3 million dollars.

"Going forward, LiveIt seeks to invest in companies that provide complex non-voice outsourced services, in areas such as research and analytics and the legal, financial and healthcare industries," Ayala Corp. said in a statement.

It said the subsidiary would focus on BPO firms in the US, the Philippines and India.

"We are very positive about this foray into the BPO sector. This is an area where the Philippines has a strong competitive advantage given our wealth of talent, strong communications skills, and well-developed telecom infrastructure," Ayala Corp. chairman and chief executive officer Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala.

"We are actively seeking additional opportunities that will enable us to provide high value added services."

The company has appointed Alfredo Ayala as LiveIt chief executive officer. He was previously the chief executive of eTelecare and chairman of BPO firm SPI Technologies.

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