Chilean telco Entel has acquired compatriot IT services firm Cientec for 15.0bn pesos (US$22.4mn) in a move aimed at strengthening its offering of ICT services for the corporate segment, Entel said in a statement.
According to Entel, negotiations for the acquisition started on September 1, after the company's board authorized management to begin talks with Cientec.
In November, Cientec general manager Aníbal Flores told BNamericas that the company was open to establishing a joint venture or some kind of partnership to continue growing in the Chilean market. Flores was not available for further comment on the acquisition.
Cientec billed 13.9bn pesos in 2007, with Ebitda of 4.37bn pesos. Flores said the goal was to grow sales 20% this year.
Meanwhile, Jaime Zapata, IT solutions manager at Entel's corporate market unit, previously told BNamericas that sales of the telco's IT offering were expected to grow 30% this year compared to 2007.
According to Juan Gnius, VP of telecoms consultancy Signals, the deal confirms the trend that telcos are concentrating efforts in their offering to the corporate segment, particularly considering their traditional source of revenues, voice traffic, has seen a constant drop in prices.
"This acquisition strengthens Entel's position in the corporate segment. Many telcos are looking to add IT services in order to improve their services offering and as I understand it, this acquisition would nearly double Entel's share in the corporate business," Gnius told BNamericas.
Entel is following the steps of neighboring telco Telecom Argentina, which last July acquired the data center of compatriot IT outsourcing services provider Cubecorp in a deal worth some US$35mn. Through this acquisition, Telecom strengthened its position in the datacenter segment for corporate customers.
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