BPO giant Stream Global expanding RP presence

MANILA, Philippines - Business process outsourcing (BPO) giant Stream Global Services Inc., an affiliate of the Ayala Group, is expanding its presence in the Philippines as it unveiled plans to establish another call center facility and hire thousands of new workers this year.

Stream Global chairman and CEO R. Scott Murray said the firm is planning to hire 1,500 employees in the next 60 days, and looking at ending the year with an additional 5,000 workers in its operations here in the Philippines.

“We want to have an additional site here in the next three months, probably in provinces like Cavite,” Murray said. Stream Global is also establishing new sites in China, Japan and Brazil.

He revealed that the New York-listed Stream Global will be one of the leading BPO firms worldwide in three to five years, hiring over 50,000 workers and earning around $5 billion in annual revenues.

Murray said the firm is alloting $10 million for technological investments alone in the Philippines this year, doubling its 2009 investment of around $5 million.

Stream Global’s Philippine operations accounted for 20 percent of the firm’s worldwide revenues in 2009, or around $160 million. “We see that growing to 30 percent to 40 percent this year once the new site has been opened,” Murray said.

He also said that the Philippines should be the next India, currently the world’s top BPO sites, but suggested that the former still needs to improve on its transportation, educational system and government incentives.

In August last year, the firm and eTelecare Global Solutions Inc. entered into a stock-for-stock transaction that created the one of the largest BPO entities globally.

Following an agreement to combine Stream Global and eTelecare, the current Stream and EGS stockholders now own approximately 57.5 percent and 42.5 percent, respectively, of the combined entity.

The combined company operates under the Stream Global Services name globally, but its Philippine operations remained under the eTelecare name.

The Ayala Group remains the second largest stockholder of the combined entity with a 25.5-percent stake, next to Ares Management LLC, the major stockholder of Stream Global, with a 45.5-percent share.

The combined entity has contact centers in North America, Europe, the Philippines, Latin America, India, the Middle East and Africa, employing over 30,000 workers.