IBEX Holdings to list 4m ordinary shares on Nasdaq
IBEX GLOBAL Solutions, an outsourcing firm based in the United States, has spent the majority of J$760 million (US$5.9 million) on capital expenditure in Jamaica over a six-month period ending December 2017.
At the same time, IBEX Holdings Limited plans to list four million ordinary shares on Nasdaq stock exchange and is allowing Amazon.com, led by the world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, to take up 10 per cent of that offer.
It marks continued investment in its outsourcing operations in the island that started in 2016.
In Jamaica, the company operates from two centres with 1,668 workers up to December, within a global chain of 27 centres and 12,640 workers. Thirteen of those centres are in the United States, with the majority of workers, 4,052, in the Philippines.
The company, at a January media event, said that its local workforce stands at 2,500 with plans to increase that to 5,000 workers within two years.
“We invested US$5.9 million on capital expenditures, a significant portion of which was related to the opening of a new delivery centre in Jamaica in our customer management segment,” stated, the I BEX financials f or its second quarter.
MAINTENANCE AND UPGRADE
The company incurs capital expenditures related to the opening of new delivery centres, maintenance and upgrade of existing delivery centres, maintenance and enhancement of its network infrastructure, and purchase of intangibles.
At the same time, the company secured a loan with local bank First Global as part of its build-out to two operations. IBEX stated that In January 2018, it entered into a US$1.4-million non-revolving demand loan with the bank. The information was disclosed in its second-quarter filings released this week.
The loan bears interest at a fixed rate of 7.0 per cent per annum. The loan is guaranteed by IBEX Global Solutions Limited and secured by substantially all the assets of IBEX Global Jamaica Limited.
The financials didn’t disclose the precise use of the funds. The Financial Gleaner is still awaiting a response to queries.
Historically, IBEX has met its liquidity needs through cash generated from its operating activities and from cash generated by financing activities, including borrowings under credit facilities and private placements of debt securities.
The company operates from two facilities in Jamaica, the Digicel building in downtown Kingston and its new facility in Portmore, St Catherine.
Several of I BEX’s f acilities, primarily located in the Philippines and Jamaica, benefit from tax incentives or concessional rates provided by l ocal l aws and regulations, said the financials.
Its Jamaica subsidiary was formed under the Jamaica Export Free Zones Act and operates under the Special Economic Zone regime, which allows its subsidiary benefits from reduced income tax rates of approximately 8.0 to 10 per cent until 2027.
“This is an i nitial public offering of common shares of IBEX Holdings Limited. We are offering 4,000,000 common shares to the public at between US$14 and $16 per share,” the company said. It plans to grow shares to 15.19 million units following the IPO.
“Our largest shareholder, The Resource Group International, Limited ( TRGI), and its major shareholder, TRG Pak istan Limited, will continue to have substantial control over us after this offering and could limit your ability to influence the outcome of key transactions, including any change of control,” stated the prospectus, adding that following the I PO, TRGI will beneficially own, in the aggregate, approximately 68.4 per cent of the outstanding common shares.
IBEX made a net loss of US$9 million f or its year ending December 2017 on revenues of US$334 million.
“We have applied to list our common shares on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol IBEX”, stated the company.
“On November 13, 2017, we issued to Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc, a 10-year warrant t o acquire 1,443,740 of our common shares, representing 10.0% of our equity on a f ully diluted and asconverted basis as of the date of issuance of the warrant. The warrant is exercisable, either for cash or on a net issuance basis, at a price per share equal to the initial public offering per share in this offering,” the prospectus said.