PT Prime, Tradecom, Unibanco From Brazil and Grupo Financiero Galicia and Banco Galicia
From Argentina Established a Partnership for Business-to-Business E-Commerce in the
Mercosul
Business Wire - August 02, 2000 07:04
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LISBON, Portugal--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 2, 2000--PT Prime and Tradecom, subsidiaries of Portugal Telecom (NYSE: PT; BVL: PTCO.IN), today
announced a partnership with Unibanco - Uniao de Bancos Brasileiros, S.A., from Brazil, and Grupo Financiero Galicia and Banco Galicia, from Argentina, for the
development of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce solutions for the Mercosul countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay Trade Organization).
This partnership, which is part of the expansion and internationalization strategies of PT Prime and Tradecom in high growth businesses, aims at the implementation of
e-procurement solutions and e-marketplaces, through the development of horizontal portals (non-specialized) and vertical portals (specialized), for products and
services transactions between companies. These e-commerce solutions will be based on a technological platform from the U.S. company Commerce One
(worldwide leader in B2B e-commerce solutions) which will be operated from Portugal by Tradecom, PT Prime's B2B subsidiary.
Portugal Telecom Group has already established strategic partnerships with Unibanco in businesses like Zip.net and, more recently, in the creation of banco1.net, the
first Brazilian Internet e-bank.
In this new strategic alliance, PT Prime will work in direct cooperation with Unibanco, Grupo Financiero Galicia and Banco Galicia and Tradecom, generating a very
powerful partnership, combining the financial groups' strong presence in the corporate segment with the know how of PT Prime in telecommunications and data
communications, along with Tradecom's knowledge of e-commerce platform from Commerce One.
The partnership will involve the creation of two types of companies in each country. The first type will be 55% owned by Portugal Telecom and 45% owned by
either Unibanco or Galicia Group, and will be responsible for the management of the e-marketplaces technological operations, platform maintenance, sale of
e-procurement solutions and customer technical support. The second type will be responsible for the commercial front end and development of value added services,
and will be owned 22.5% by Portugal Telecom and 77.5% by each local partner.
For the set up of the business portal and launch of operations using the Commerce One platform, the partners expect to invest around US$ 100 million in the
following years.
This is an innovative partnership as it is the first time that leading financial institutions from Mercosul join together for the development of e-marketplaces in this
economic region, which will be the most important of Latin America with expected sales volume in excess of US$ 3.2 billion by 2003.
Buyers will have the advantage of a price reduction of its products, and around 60 to 70% cost reduction in purchasing costs. Sellers will see an increase in sales and
will rationalize their stock management, billing and after sales service.
In order to speed up the launching of this partnership, Unibanco, Portugal Telecom (through Telesp Celular), and Grupo Financiero Galicia and Banco Galicia will
start to use Tradecom solutions for their purchases, with the first on-line transactions expected in the last quarter of 2000.
STRATEGIC PARTNERS
PT PRIME
PT Prime - Solucoes Empresariais de Telecomunicacoes e Sistemas, S.A. is the leader company for the top corporate market with a one stop shopping offer in the
info-communications area. It provides the integration of advanced telecommunications services with e-commerce and information systems, mainly through IP
technology. PT Prime provides a wide offer of global telecommunication solutions, which involves PT Group and its partnerships. Broadband, satellite, voice and
data, multimedia, network and services outsourcing, e-commerce and Internet solutions compose its product portfolio. PT Prime has strong partnerships that provide
a global offer and guarantees all the competencies for the development of flexible and innovative solutions, such as the ones with Telefonica, Concert, Equant, SAP,
Commerce One, BES and CGD.
TRADECOM
Tradecom - Solucoes Empresariais de Comercio Electronico S.A., is the leading company in Portugal of e-commerce business-to-business solutions and
e-marketplaces. Tradecom is located in Lisbon and additional information can be reached at www.tradecom.pt.
COMMERCE ONE
Commerce One is the leader in global business e-commerce solutions. Through its products, portals, and services, Commerce One creates access to worldwide
markets, allowing anyone to buy from anyone, anytime, anywhere. The Commerce One Global Trading web is the world's largest business-to-business trading
community. Comprised of many open e-market places, the Global Trading Web provides unprecedented economies of scale for buyers, suppliers, and service
providers worldwide. Commerce One is located in Pleasanton, California, and additional information can be reached at www.commerceone.com.
UNIBANCO GROUP
Unibanco Group is structured in 4 main business areas, with operations in the corporate and retail markets, in asset management, in credit cards segment, being the
major issuer in Latin America taking in to account its total holdings in Unibanco Cartoes, Credicard and Fininvest, and in partnership with AIG in insurance and
pension funds. Currently, Unibanco's clients amount to 4.3 million.
With coordinated operations in its international business platforms, Unibanco operates in external financing for the external commerce and its clients investments in the
international market. In these activities, Unibanco has agencies and foreign branch offices in New York, Miami, London, Luxembourg, Nassau, Grand Cayman,
Paraguay and Uruguay. With this new partnership, Unibanco will be represented in Argentina reaching all the Mercosul countries.
GRUPO FINANCIERO GALICIA S.A. AND BANCO GALICIA
Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. is a holding company which its main asset is Banco Galicia. Its strategy is to establish itself as a leader company in the global financial
services and to consolidate the Banco Galicia position as one of the largest corporate institutions in Argentina. Banco Galicia is the first private bank of the Argentina
financial system with assets of US$ 15,400 million, deposits of US$ 8,500 million, loans of US$ 8,800 million, having a 10% market share. Banco Galicia provides a
wide range of financial services to more than 33,000 companies and to more than 2,000,000 customers, through the biggest and diversified distribution network of
the private sector, comprised by more than 600 agencies, by the largest automatic teller machine network, through banking telephonic services and internet. Banco
Galicia has offices in Uruguay, through Banco Galicia Uruguay S.A., and branches in New York and in the Cayman Islands.
This information is also available on PT's website at www.telecom.pt
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Such statements are not statements of historical fact, and reflect goals of the company's management. The
words "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "forecasts," "intends," "plans," "predicts," "projects" and "targets" and similar words are intended to identify
these statements, which necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, the results of operations of the company to be achieved may be
different from the company's current goals and the reader should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak
only as of the date they are made, and the company does not undertake any obligation to update them in light of new information or future developments.
Portugal Telecom is listed on the Lisbon and New York Stock Exchanges and traded on London SEAQ International. Information may be accessed on the Reuters
2000 Service under the symbols PT and PTCO.IN, on Bloomberg and Quotron under the symbol PT.
CONTACT: Portugal Telecom
Pedro M. Dias, 011-351-21-500-1701
or
Taylor Rafferty, New York
James P. Prout, 212/889-4350 |
