NCR seeks acquisition to grow in the country
Valor Econômico - 06/13/2008
The American manufacturer of ATMs, NCR, has been examining the Brazilian companies in the search of acquiring a company in the country. During his visit to clients and partners in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Bill Nuti, Chief Officer of the company, confirmed the interest in acquiring local operations. Bill Nuti's eyes are aimed at the billionaire Brazilian market of ATMs. The country, he says, is currently the third largest market in the world for ATM tellers, only behind the United States and Japan. Altogether, they are more than 170 thousand installed machines, according to a research recently released by the Brazilian Bank Federation (Febraban). According to Nuti, it is not easy to deal with the fact that they lead the sector in several countries of the world but not in Brazil, where the company has been present for 71 years. It seems NCR is likely to follow the same path trailed by Diebold, the American rival that paid nearly US$ 230 million for the Brazilian Procomp nine years ago. The result is that today Diebold Procomp - as it became to be called - has nearly 60% of the ATM market in the country, with close to 100 thousand installed machines, three local plants (two in Manaus and one in São Paulo) and an income above R$ 1 billion (US$ 518.1 million) in 2007. The situation is still quite different for NCR which currently struggles in the market with a participation of only 6% and little more than 10 thousand installed machines in the country. Bill Nuti prefers not to detail the "high investment" NCR is willing to make in order to expand its market share. Notwithstanding its seeking fast growth, it is more likely that NCR will focus its attention on few names of the industry.