CVC in talks to buy Philippines BPO asset – report

PLDT put an 80% stake in business process outsourcing (BPO) unit SPi up for sale last year as part of efforts to divest non-core assets. It announced in a December regulatory filing that a deal was in the process of being finalized. PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangiliannan previously told local media that a sale to a private equity fund involved in international BPO operations would likely be completed in early 2013.

According to Reuters, the SPi auction attracted interest from the likes of Bain Capital and The Carlyle Group as well as CVC.

SPi's primary business is BPO work for international clients but it also has an education-linked publishing unit that was acquired last year. The company has more than 18,000 employees and operations in the US, Europe, India, Vietnam and Australia, as well as the Philippines. EBITDA is said to be around $45 million.

CVC is already responsible for one of the largest private equity investments ever seen in the Philippines, having acquired a minority stake in Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. for $163 million in 2011. It only known previous deal in the country was the purchase of a 72% interest in Steniel Manufacturing Corp. in 2000 for about $8 million.

Global buyout firms in general are focusing a lot more time and resources on Southeast Asia. Indonesia is the prime target but the Philippines, with its rapid economic growth and surging capital markets, is also on the radar.

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• Southeast Asia
• Support services
• Philippines
• Southeast Asia
• buyout
• TMT
• CVC Capital Partners