Transcosmos acquires MetroDeal at a valuation of $30M, says broker

Tokyo’s outsourcing giant Transcosmos bought Philippine daily deals site MetroDeal Holdings from owner Ralph Wunsch.

Transcosmos confirmed in a March 2 disclosure to the Tokyo Stock Exchange that the deal was supposed to have closed on March 31. Transcosmos did not disclose the financial details, but Tech in Asia learned from Acqhire Staff, which brokered the deal, that the company acquired the ecommerce site at a valuation of about US$30 million.

In the same disclosure, Transcosmos said it formed a new subsidiary, MetroDeal Co., in Bangkok, Thailand that will hold all of the assets of MetroDeal Holdings.

The newly formed subsidiary has a capitalization of US$29.54 million, and is 90 percent owned by Transcosmos. Wunsch, who now sits on Transcosmos’ board, reportedly owns the remaining 10 percent.

“MetroDeal founder’s proven track record in ecommerce caught Transcosmos’ interest. The acquisition is part of Transcosmos’ goal to strengthen its ecommerce business in emerging markets,” says Acqhire Staff. Wunsch could not be reached for comment. We reached out to representatives of Transcosmos in the Philippines for details of the transaction, but have yet to receive a response.

MetroDeal Holdings is a daily deals site founded in British Virgin Islands in July 2011. It operates out of Hong Kong but focuses on the Philippine market. It sells a range of products and services such as fashion, health, and beauty items as well as restaurant, spa, salon, and travel packages. As of December 2013, it raked in net sales worth US$2.8 million, according to Transcosmos’ disclosure.

It is the latest ecommerce company to join Transcosmos’ portfolio after Thai ebook firm Ookbee, Singapore cosmetics ecommerce shop Luxola, and Indonesian fashion ecommerce business Berrybenka.

Transcosmos is a Japan-based company principally engaged in outsourcing. It mainly provides call center, business process outsourcing, and digital marketing services, including inbound and outbound, fulfillment, support desk, web integration, marketing research, and more. In 2014, it expanded its services to specifically cater to the ecommerce industry, providing end-to-end ecommerce solutions.