Atento Completes Acquisition of Majority Stake in Interfile Leading Provider of BPO Services in the Financial Services Sector in Brazil
- Combination creates the leading provider of credit origination BPO solutions in the Latin America market
- Transaction demonstrates continued progress of Atento's strategic growth initiatives – expands penetration into higher value-add solutions
SAO PAULO, June 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Atento S.A. (NYSE: ATTO), the leading provider of customer relationship management and business process outsourcing solutions (CRM BPO) in Latin America, and one of the three top providers worldwide, today announced the completion of its acquisition of Interfile. A definitive agreement to acquire the company was announced in March 2017.
"We are excited to complete the acquisition of Interfile, which strengthens our capabilities and positions Atento as the leading provider of credit origination BPO solutions in Brazil and in the Latin America market. Through this transaction we are doubling our market share in the USD 1 Billion Latam credit origination BPO market to approximately 10%. This acquisition allows us now to provide a fully integrated BPO platform to deliver end-to-end solutions for the Financial Services sector," stated Alejandro Reynal, Atento's Chief Executive Officer.
"This transaction is evidence of our progress against our strategic growth initiatives, which include the consolidation of our leadership position in core voice services, expansion into higher value-add solutions, and accelerated growth in digital services," added Mr. Reynal.
Mauricio Montilha, Atento´s Chief Financial Officer, added, "Our long-term strategy to create value is to diversify our revenue base and selectively deploy capital to where its value is the highest. Our acquisition of a majority stake in Interfile is an excellent example of this strategy – reflecting our disciplined capital allocation and our pursuit of selective growth opportunities to accelerate our transformation into a BPO company. We will continue to be opportunistic and evaluate opportunities for capital deployment including further accretive investments and accelerated pay down of high cost debt."
The Company remains confident in its full-year outlook, in constant currency, for revenue growth between 1% and 5% and adjusted EBITDA margin between 11% and 12%, as recent transactions are expected to contribute to revenue growth.
Founded in 1991, Interfile is a leading provider of BPO services and solutions for the banking and financial services sector in Brazil. Interfile is a benchmark in the BPO market in Brazil, and provides services and solutions, including credit origination, to a great majority of blue-chip brands operating in the financial sector. It has more than 1,700 employees, 2 BPO services centers, 28 operations offices and more than 1,400 workstations, offering great proximity and efficiency to clients across Brazil.
About Atento
Atento is the largest provider of customer relationship management and business process outsourcing (CRM BPO) services in Latin America, and among the top three providers globally, based on revenues. Atento is also a leading provider of nearshoring CRM/BPO services to companies that carry out their activities in the United States. Since 1999, the company has developed its business model in 13 countries where it employs more than 150,000 people. Atento has over 400 clients to whom it offers a wide range of CRM/BPO services through multiple channels. Atento's clients are mostly leading multinational corporations in sectors such as telecommunications, banking and financial services, health, retail and public administrations, among others. Atento´s shares trade under the symbol ATTO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). In 2016, Atento was named one of the World´s 25 Best Multinational Workplaces by Great Place to Work® for a third consecutive year. For more information visit www.atento.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "intends," "continue" or similar terminology. These statements reflect only Atento's current expectations and are not guarantees of future performance or results. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, competition in Atento's highly competitive industries; increases in the cost of voice and data services or significant interruptions in these services; Atento's ability to keep pace with its clients' needs for rapid technological change and systems availability; the continued deployment and adoption of emerging technologies; the loss, financial difficulties or bankruptcy of any key clients; the effects of global economic trends on the businesses of Atento's clients; the non-exclusive nature of Atento's client contracts and the absence of revenue commitments; security and privacy breaches of the systems Atento uses to protect personal data; the cost of pending and future litigation; the cost of defending Atento against intellectual property infringement claims; extensive regulation affecting many of Atento's businesses; Atento's ability to protect its proprietary information or technology; service interruptions to Atento's data and operation centers; Atento's ability to retain key personnel and attract a sufficient number of qualified employees; increases in labor costs and turnover rates; the political, economic and other conditions in the countries where Atento operates; changes in foreign exchange rates; Atento's ability to complete future acquisitions and integrate or achieve the objectives of its recent and future acquisitions; future impairments of our substantial goodwill, intangible assets, or other long-lived assets; and Atento's ability to recover consumer receivables on behalf of its clients. In addition, Atento is subject to risks related to its level of indebtedness. Such risks include Atento's ability to generate sufficient cash to service its indebtedness and fund its other liquidity needs; Atento's ability to comply with covenants contained in its debt instruments; the ability to obtain additional financing; the incurrence of significant additional indebtedness by Atento and its subsidiaries; and the ability of Atento's lenders to fulfill their lending commitments. Atento is also subject to other risk factors described in documents filed by the company with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which the statements were made. Atento undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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