UnionBank buys 30% stake in Shiptek
Credit to Author: THE MANILA TIMES| Date: Wed, 22 May 2019 16:09:43 +0000
UNION Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) will be integrating its e-commerce payment gateway and other digital financial services into the XLOG logistics platform developed by Shiptek Solutions Corp. after it acquired a 30-percent stake in the Filipino technology solutions firm through a deal signed on Wednesday.
The stake — which UnionBank purchased through its subsidiary UBX — is equal to 52,374,553 Shiptek common shares at P1.53 each or about P80.3 million in total.
UBX’s expertise in technology development and blockchain was said to further power XLOG’s end-to-end supply chain solution that consolidates shipping, warehousing, trucking and customs brokerage.
“We have long sought to serve the logistics sector, and with the onset of digitization, the introduction of platforms like XLOG, represents the industry’s movement from traditional methods to electronic,” UnionBank President and Chief Executive Officer Edwin Bautista said.
“UBX’s main thrust is to invest in complementary capabilities. We are developing platforms to go to market with business models that are beyond banking. We will also invest in capabilities and platforms that share the same objective,” UBX Chief Executive Officer John Januszczak said.
Through XLOG UnionBank, UBX and Shiptek Solutions said they could tap into each other’s expertise and customer network, from small and medium enterprises to large corporations.
UnionBank also said it would also be involved in Shiptek’s daily operations, holding two out of five seats in the company’s board of directors.
Shiptek, on the other hand, projects that UnionBank’s investment would help the company reach its goal of moving 500,000 to 1,000,000 20-foot equivalent units (TEU). It has generated over thousands of TEUs to date since its launch in 2018.
UnionBank shares fell by 10 centavos or 0.16 percent to close at P60.90 apiece on Wednesday.
MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO
The post UnionBank buys 30% stake in Shiptek appeared first on The Manila Times Online.