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Epixtar to Acquire $20 Million Call Center Company
Tuesday, July 13, 9:53 am ET
Deal to Add 1 Philippine and 3 U.S. Locations
MIAMI - July 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Epixtar Corp. (OTC
Bulletin Board: EPXR - News) announced it had entered a Definitive
Letter of Intent (LOI) to acquire 100% of the shares of Innovative
Marketing Strategies, Inc. (IMS) of Leawood, Kansas and 100%
of the shares of IMS Philippine subsidiary, Innovative Marketing
Strategies International, Inc. (IMS Asia). IMS has call centers
in Wheeling, West Virginia; Duluth, Minnesota; and Pittsburg,
Kansas. IMS Asia is located in the Makati area of Metropolitan
Manila. Epixtar will pay $14.4 Million for the privately held
IMS in a combination of cash and stock and has already advanced
IMS some cash to discharge certain IMS liabilities prior to
closing, anticipated to occur in August 2004. IMS has reported
2003 revenues of approximately $20 Million while Epixtar's
revenues for the same period were about $36 Million.
Epixtar is a leader in the trend to locate business process
outsourcing and call center operations to the Philippines,
where a highly educated, English-speaking workforce is available
at a fraction of the cost of their U.S. competitors. The historical
affinity between the United States and the Philippines assures
a familiarity with U.S. culture that equates to higher levels
of customer satisfaction when compared to other offshore locations
such as India or the Caribbean. Additionally, as a former
U.S. colony and staunch ally of the United States, the Philippines
is rarely the subject of public backlash against offshore
outsourcing.
IMS has been a force in the U.S. telemarketing industry since
its founding in 1996, delivering exceptional results to the
Fortune 500 and enterprise clients recognized within the financial
services, telecommunications, and publishing industries. "It's
all about execution in the outsourcing business," said
Brad Yeater, president of IMS and newly appointed executive
vice president for operations at Epixtar. "We intend
to bring our time-tested methodology to Epixtar's formidable
operations in the Philippines; we know what makes telemarketing
campaigns succeed for our clients."
Epixtar has been building call center operations in the Philippines
since last year. To date the Company has successfully completed
the acquisition of I-Call Global Services, Corp. assets and
expanded that company's former location in Alabang (a Manila
suburb) to approximately 250 seats. The Company is developing
its 1,600 seat regional headquarters in Eastwood City CyberPark
(Libis, metro-Manila); 350 seats are fully operational in
Eastwood with another 700 coming on line in August. Final
completion of Epixtar House is scheduled for November 2004.
The Company is also developing a call center in Dumaguete,
a central Philippine city to the south of Manila. The Company
plans to continue its expansion in the Philippines and hopes
to be operating at least 5,000 seats by the end of 2005.
"This acquisition conforms to Epixtar's intent to grow
rapidly in line with our clients' requirements for quality,
cost-effective solutions, and reliable on-shore and offshore
capacity. This gives the IMS client base an option to lower
costs without sacrificing performance," said David Srour,
chief executive officer of Epixtar Corp. "Integrating
IMS' professional management team, thorough understanding
of telesales requirements, and track record of delivery bode
well for Epixtar's future growth."
"Our decision to join Epixtar not only indicates our
confidence in their vision for the future of the industry,
but affirms our certainty that the Philippines is a desirable
complement to our domestic operations," said Steve Rasmussen,
chief executive officer of IMS. "The combination of Epixtar's
experience in the Philippines and our history of exceeding
clients' performance expectations, create an entity that is
greater than the sum of it parts".
Completion of the transaction is subject to, among other
things, further due diligence, the receipt of certified financial
statements and the approval of the Epixtar Board of Directors.
About Epixtar
Epixtar Corp. is the parent company of Epixtar International
Contact Center Group, Ltd (EICCG), Epixtar Communications
Corp. (ECC) and the NOL Group, Inc. (NOL). ECC is a wholesale
telecommunications provider. NOL provides Internet services
to small and medium sized businesses.
EICCG, Epixtar's most active subsidiary, is a business process
outsourcing (BPO) company -- aggregating contact center capacity
and robust telephony infrastructure to deliver comprehensive,
turnkey services to the enterprise market. From campaign design
through ongoing management, Epixtar delivers value-driven,
creative outsourcing solutions for the customer relationship
management (CRM) and telesales initiatives of third-party
companies. Companies use Epixtar's marketing expertise and
well-trained personnel to acquire, support, and enhance the
customer experience, reduce costs and generate top- line revenue.
Epixtar's corporate headquarters is in Miami, Florida and
it currently operates two contact centers in Manila, Philippines,
is developing a call center in Dumaguete, Philippines, and
plans to expand to additional sites over the next 24 months.
Forward-looking Statements
This Press Release may contain "forward-looking statements,"
regarding EPIXTAR'S business, customers, partners, future
products and services, estimates of future business prospects
or financial results, statements regarding EPIXTAR'S objectives,
expectations, intentions, beliefs or strategies, or statements
containing words such as "believe," "project,"
"expect," "intend," "may," "anticipate,"
"plans," "seeks," or similar expressions.
It is important to note that EPIXTAR'S actual results could
differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements,
and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements.
Among the important factors that could cause such actual results
to differ materially are (i) the timing of significant orders
for EPIXTAR'S products and services, (ii) variations in the
terms and the elements of services offered under EPIXTAR'S
standardized contract for future service offerings, (iii)
changes in applicable accounting principles, (iv) difficulties
or delays in implementing EPIXTAR'S service offerings, (v)
failure to achieve sales, marketing and other objectives,
(vi) construction delays of new call centers, (vii) delays
in EPIXTAR'S ability to develop new products and services
and market acceptance of new products and services, (viii)
rapid technological change, (ix) loss of significant customers,
(x) risks inherent in conducting business abroad, (xi) currency
fluctuations, (xii) fluctuations in business conditions and
the economy, (xiii) EPIXTAR'S ability to attract and retain
key management personnel, (xiv) the marketplace's continued
acceptance of EPIXTAR'S service offerings, (xv) EPIXTAR'S
ability to continue the growth of its support service revenues
through additional technical and customer service centers,
(xvi) EPIXTAR'S ability to further penetrate into vertically
integrated markets, (xvii) EPIXTAR'S ability to expand its
global presence through strategic alliances and selective
acquisitions, (xviii) EPIXTAR'S ability to continue to establish
a competitive advantage through sophisticated technological
capabilities, (xix) the ultimate outcome of certain regulatory
actions, (xx) EPIXTAR'S ability to recognize deferred revenue
through delivery of products or satisfactory performance of
services; and (xxi) EPIXTAR'S continued ability to attract
and obtain adequate financing (xxii) other risk factors listed
from time to time in EPIXTAR'S registration statements and
reports as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
All forward-looking statements which may be contained in this
Press Release are made as of the date that such statements
are originally published or made, and EPIXTAR undertakes no
obligation to update any such forward-looking statements.
For those statements, we claim the protection of the safe
harbor for forward-looking statements contained in Section
27A of the Securities Act, Section 21E of the Exchange Act,
and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
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Contact:
Harry B. Fozzard
hfozzard@epixtar.com
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Source: Epixtar Corporation
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