Benpres earns P145-M from sale of call center subsidiary

Benpres Holdings Corp., the publicly-listed holding firm of the Lopez Group, raised P145 million from the sale of its call center unit Customer Contact Center Inc. (C-Cubed).

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Benpres clarified it sold C-Cubed to Universal Vision Corp., a company based in the British Virgin Islands which is engaged in marketing and offshore call center services.

Benpres said that Universal Vision is an affiliate, not controlled by the Hinduja Group of India as earlier disclosed to securities regulators. "The buyer is a company affiliated to the Hinduja Group. There is no affiliation with Benpres or any of its affiliates," Benpres said.

The stock purchase agreement was signed on July 30 and the closing deliverables were completed last Aug. 1.

Apart from the P145 million it received for its equity, Benpres was repaid P18.6 million of its advances to C-Cubed. The company also caused the settlement of P79.9 million of C-Cubed’s debt obligation.

Benpres said it will use the proceeds from the asset sale for servicing debt.

C-Cubed is a 450-seat call center located in Eastwood City, Libis, Quezon City. It serves primarily the growing international business process outsourcing market and is considered a pioneer in the local call center industry.

The move is in line with the group’s asset divestment program aimed at further strengthening its liquidity position and focusing on its core businesses which are broadcasting and power generation.

Among the other assets Benpres may divest to bring down overall debts to a more manageable level are its interests in First Philippine Infrastructure Development Corp., Sky Vision’s Beyond Cable and Rockwell Land.