|
ETELECARE Global Solutions Inc. told the Philippine
Stock Exchange on Wednesday that it will form a unit in the United
Kingdom.
In a disclosure, the Nasdaq-listed
business process outsourcing (BPO) firm said its board recently
approved the establishment of a wholly owned unit in the United
Kingdom where its new client, Virgin Media, is based. The client is
part of the Virgin Group founded by billionaire Sir Richard Branson.
According to eTelecare, the unit
would serve as a juridical entity in the said country and the board
has approved the injection of up to $2 million to make its UK office
operational.
Mike Montero, eTelecare corporate
affairs director, told The Manila Times that the unit would not
function as an extension of its call-center operations but rather
would coordinate transactions between Virgin Media and eTelecare in
the Philippines, where all inbound voice services for the media
outfit are still based.
Earlier, the BPO firm’s biggest
shareholder, Ayala Corp., increased its stake in the company from 11
percent to 22 percent. Rufino Luis Manotoc, Ayala Corp. managing
director, said that its unit, LiveIT Solutions, had been buying
eTelecare stocks from the market during the latter part of last year
since the parent believed in the fundamentals of the BPO company and
of the industry in general.
Last year, eTelecare announced
its purchase of AOL Member Services-Philippines Inc., a wholly-owned
unit of Time Warner’s America On Line for $7.2 million. The new
unit provides nonvoice customer care and technical support services
to clients.
Last year, eTelecare had 9,800
seats in the country spread across its facilities in the cities of
Quezon, Mandaluyong, Makati, Muntinlupa and Cebu. It also has
contact centers in New Mexico, Arizona and North and South Dakota.
--Likha C. Cuevas-Miel
|
