Hong Kong-based IT solutions company PacificNet Inc, in a move designed to gain presence in mainland China, is establishing a joint venture company aimed at providing
value-added telecom services in Greater China.
PacificNet is teaming with telecom services firm International Elite Ltd. in the equity venture that will offer call center services, telemarketing, CRM,
database and data-mining services, wireless communications, mobile applications, paging, roaming, short messaging services (SMS), mobile commerce and VoIP services.
The new company will be called “PacificNet Communications – Macao Commercial Offshore” and will be registered in the Macao Special Administrative Region of China.
PacificNet will own 50.1 percent of the joint venture while the five shareholders of International Elite will own 49.9 percent. With any luck the deal will help PacificNet’s stock price, which has been trading recently in the 10 to 15 cent range.
International Elite said it will contribute a number of telecom business contracts, valued at $21.3 million, to the venture.
PacificNet CEO Tony Tong said the company is planning further strategic moves in China to increase its customer bases, revenue and profit fundamentals. The company, formerly known as PacificNet.com, markets a suite of e-commerce software applications and provides telecommunications and data network communications services.
PacificNet also said it has received a letter from the Nasdaq exchange saying that it has satisfied a requirement that the company demonstrate a market value of publicly held shares of at least $1 million for a minimum of ten (consecutive trading days on or before Dec. 9. The company has until Feb. 19 to get its stock price above $1 a share or it will face delisting.
For the third quarter, PacificNet revenues were $187,000 and the net loss was $338,000.