Sun Power, four other US firms to invest $320-M here

Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II announced yesterday that five American firms have promised to invest $320 million on various projects in the Philippines following President Arroyo’s recent State visit to the US.

The new capital inflows are expected to create employment for 14,000 Filipinos.

Roxas said the bulk – about $300 million – will be invested by Sun Power Corp. which is planning to put up a 150-million megawatt (MW) photovoltaic plant/solar cell project in the country.

Sun Power Corp., America’s leading manufacturer of ultra high frequency silicon solar cells, is coursing its investments through its local partner in the Philippines – Cypress Manufacturing Ltd.

Sun Power Corp. president Richard Swanson and Cypress chief finance officer Manny Hernandez said the project will initially engage in the production of wafer and solar cell processing.

The project is expected to generate 25 MW during the first phase of the operation before reaching its maximum output of 150 MW in 2006.

Another US firm, Prudential Financial is tapping 77Global, a local firm, as its partner for a pilot business process outsourcing (BPO) and call center operations in the Philippines.

77Global will operate an in-house call center to service Prudential Financial’s corporate technology services which is currently manned by 60,000 employees.

Prudential Financial is one of the largest finance and life insurance companies in the US.

The firm offers products and services such as life insurance, property and casualty insurance, mutual funds, annuities, pension and retirement-related services, asset management, securities brokerage and the like.

Roxas also announced that Convergys, the world’s largest call center operator, has formally informed the government of its decision to locate in the Philippines and initially set up two call centers – one in Makati and another in Pasig.

Convergys provides billing, customer care and employee care services to corporations in telecommunications, financial services and Internet industries.

Roxas also met with officials of Western Wats which is planning to invest over P150 million for a call center facility in Cebu.

The Western Wats call center will have 300 seats and 500 call center agents. Company officials will conduct surveys on potential sites and the labor pool by September this year.

Utah-based Western Wats is a pioneering firm in the field of service data collection. It currently employs at least 1,500 researchers/interviewers and data processors.

It conducts market research surveys for leading global corporations via telephone and the Internet.

Lastly, Vision-X Inc. is investing P150 million for a call center project in the country. The firm plans to employ 4,800 workers within a three-year period.