IPVG gets P50-M loan for call center purchase

Publicly-listed e-games publisher and data center provider lPVG Corp. has obtained a P50-million loan from Malayan Bank Savings & Mortgage Bank to partly finance the acquisition of a call center.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, IPVG said the loan will have a term of one year, extendable for another six months.

While it has experienced tremendous growth in its chosen fields, IPVG wants to continue building on its core businesses, namely information technology and telecommunications through subsidiary IP Converge, online gaming (IP e-Games) and business process outsourcing (IP Contact Center Outsourcing Inc.). 

 IPVG currently owns and operates the number one carrier neutral telco-grade data center facility in the country as well as the number one online games publisher.

IPVG said that the thrust for the second half of the year and in the next two years is regional expansion in all three of its core businesses.

The call center industry is expected to outpace the Philippine economy in terms of growth. Industry figures in the Philippines confirm that as of 2006 there are 185,000 seats that generate approximately $2.6 billion in annual turnover.

 The business process association of the Philippines forecasts that this number will grow to 450,000 seats by 2010 with over $7.2 billion in annual turnover. The growth over the next four years translates to 265,000 new seats.

IPVG chief executive officer Enrique Gonzalez said the company is eyeing three acquisitions within the year as part of efforts to further boost its cashflow and improve shareholder value.

He refused to name the target companies but said these are not outside of IPVG’s chosen business fields.  IPVG has allotted P1 billion for planned acquisitions.

It earlier signed an exclusive agreement with a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s largest fixed line operator PCCW Ltd. to run call centers in the country.  IP Contact Center Outsourcing Inc. will be the exclusive vehicle of PCCW Teleservices Ltd. to service English-speaking requirements of clients referred by the Hong Kong firm.

IPVG posted a net income of P43.5 million in the first half of the year, a reversal of the P32.7 million loss incurred the previous year. Revenues grew more than five-fold to P335 million from only P65.4 million.