Three groups form IT venture

Three groups signed on May 8, in San Francisco, California an agreement to form a joint-venture information technology enterprise that will provide outsourcing and systems integration services to the Philippines and the rest of the world.

The partners in the proposed joint venture are Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Complete Business Solutions Inc., CBSI Philippines Inc., and Bank of America International Investment Corp.

The signing was held at the Grand Hyatt in San Francisco. It was witnessed by Trade Secretary Manuel (Mar) Roxas III who is currently on an IT trade mission in the US.

The joint venture was put together by Argosy Partners Inc., a private equity investment advisory company, together with Complete Business Solutions Inc., a US-based software services company.

CBSI is one of the fastest growing technology companies in the US. It is engaged in providing information technology (IT) services to large and middle-size organizations all over the world. It has a network of development centers and branch offices throughout North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

RCBC's information technology department provides IT solutions to meet its internal requirements. The bank's recent decision to spin off its IT facilities into a separate company is part of its long-term goal to deliver leading edge technology products to its clients at the least cost and in the quickest time possible. A service agreement will be executed by the parties as soon as all regulatory approvals are obtained.

The joint venture company aims to provide a full range of IT services to local and overseas clients from operations and facilities that will be based in the Philippines. These services include the following: IT consulting and solutions development, systems development, software/applications development, systems integration, networking solutions, IT outsourcing, data center operations and facilities management.

The company, when formed, will operate from the RCBC Plaza in Makati, which was recently given as IT zone status by the Philippine Export Zone Authority.