Software group attracts US$ 37.5 million investment
Valor Econômico
Brazil and the international market have always been on the horizon of Softway - software company of foreign trade management - either for the very nature of the activity of the company or even for the steps taken soon after its creation, in Campinas (SP), in 1996. Fifteen years after developing a system that was adopted throughout Latin America by Hewlett-Packard (HP), the first client of the company, Softway is putting into practice a plan to strengthen and expand its businesses both in Brazil and abroad.
To attract investments and gather new operations and its activities under a single umbrella, Softway created, in 2010, T. Global, which has just received an investment of nearly R$ 60 million (US$ 37.5 million) from the investment fund DGF Investimentos. Under the terms of the agreement, DGF will have minority interest in T. Global and it shall occupy a seat in the Board of Directors of the new group. "At a first moment, those resources will be used to finance acquisitions. The idea is to gain structure and go public in three years", says Israel Geraldi, Chairman of the Board of T. Global. From the injection of resources, the first initiative of T. Global is the acquisition of the also Brazilian Softleasing.
Softleasing operates in the same segment of Softway. The focus of the company, however, are small and medium-sized enterprises, that generate up to US$ 10 million in imports and exports. Softway, on its turn, gives priority to clients that import or export values above such figure. The two companies will continue operating independently. The proposal, however, is to establish a flow of partnerships in terms of portfolio, sales and development of products to meet the demands of companies of all sizes. With the acquisition, T. Global gains more than one thousand clients in the segment of management of software for foreign trade.
Driven by the creation of the Integrated System of Foreign Trade (Siscomex), in 1993, the demand for the so-called customs software has been keeping up with the growth of the Brazilian trade balance, says Menotti Antonio Franceschini Neto, Marketing and Business Officer of Softway. "The projection for 2014 is that Brazil generates twice the current flow. Those are the perspectives that are guiding our investments", says Neto. In this direction, Geraldi reveals T. Global already holds negotiations and it should conclude the acquisition of three companies related to the sector by the end of the year.
Another strategy of T. Global is to accelerate the process of internationalization of Softway, started with the opening of a subsidiary in Argentina, in March. The investment in the operation amounted to US$ 2 million, the same value foreseen for the next units abroad. The next step is to open a unit in Mexico, in 2012. Colombia, Chile, the United States and a country in Central America complete the expansion plans for the next five years. According to Geraldi, the goals for Softway also include exceeding the mark of R$ 100 million (US$ 62.5 million) of earnings in 2014. The company reached an income of R$ 60 million (US$ 34.1 million) in 2010. As regards Softleasing, the goal is to triple the earnings of R$ 2 million (US$ 1.3 million) and the current base of one hundred clients in the next three years.