MANILA, Philippines--LISTED technology firm IPVG Corp. (IPVG) has renewed its bid to take over contact center PeopleSupport Inc.

IPVG said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange late Friday that it had sent a new proposal to acquire PeopleSupport at a purchase price of $17 a share.

"The purchase price of $17 per share represents approximately a 34.81-percent premium to PeopleSupport's 60-day weighted average closing price of $12.61 per share," IPVG said.

In a copy of the letter to PeopleSupport furnished by IPVG Corp., the technology company expressed disappointment that "the board of directors of the company [PeopleSupport] has not engaged us in serious discussions" despite repeated requests.

"Upon careful deliberation of the recent initiatives, revised earnings guidance and new strategic planning the company (PeopleSupport) announced in its statement of Dec. 12, 2007, we are prepared to make a revised proposal to acquire the company at a purchase price of $17 a share," IPVG said.

Before the end of December 2007, IPVG made an offer to buy PeopleSupport at $15 per share but was turned down.

IPVG went back to market and bought another US-based outsourcing company called Interactive Teleservices Corporation (Influent) for a still undisclosed amount, apparently while quietly conducting further studies on its plan to acquire PeopleSupport.

It may be recalled that as early as July 2007, IPVG had indicated that it would embark on an aggressive expansion program.

In the Internet data center (IDC) space, IPVG wants to establish a regional ring of IDCs in Southeast Asia.

For online gaming, IPVG said it wants to penetrate new growth markets such as Vietnam.

Another area of interest is online education.



(Inquirer.Net)