- The Restructuring Effective Date in relation to Atento's
financial restructuring implemented through a UK restructuring plan
has occurred following approval by its creditors and the sanction
of the English Court.
- Following the successful funding of the Exit Financing, the
Company enters a new phase with a strong focus on technology
investment to further enhance CX services, along with
geographic expansion.
- Technology-driven transformation, such as AI and intelligent
automation, will remain the backbone for delivering the best
customer experience with a human touch.
- The Company will continue to focus on strengthening
its Nearshore, Offshore and Multilingual business, as well as
increasing its presence in the US market.
MADRID, Nov. 27,
2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Atento Luxco 1 ("Atento" or the
"Company"), one of the world's largest providers of customer
relationship management and business process outsourcing (CRM/BPO)
services and industry leader in Latin
America, today announced its new business strategy following
the successful completion of its restructuring process. Moving
forward, Atento enters a new phase in its business strategy aimed
at leading the way to Business Transformation Outsourcing, boosting
its competitiveness in the market, and improving its growth
outlook. In line with this new strategy, the Company is adopting a
strong focus on technological investment for the transformation of
the CX and its geographic expansion, with the employees and clients
at the center.
Completion of the Restructuring
The Company today announces the occurrence of the Restructuring
Effective Date on 27 November 2023
and the successful completion of its financial restructuring,
implemented by way of a UK restructuring plan pursuant to Part 26A
of the Companies Act 2006 (the "Restructuring Plan"). The
Restructuring Plan was approved by the Company's creditors at the
creditor meetings held on 13 November
2023 with near-unanimous support from its creditors voting
on the restructuring plan and was subsequently sanctioned by the
English court at a sanction hearing held on 17 November 2023 in the High Court of Justice of
England and Wales.
As part of the restructuring, the Company has received
additional commitments of $76 million
through the Exit Financing process. In addition to the $37 million already received by the Company
through June 2023 to August 2023, this increases the total investment
to $113 million and provides the
Company with a stable financial platform to implement its new
business strategy. As a result of the Restructuring Plan, the
Company has converted the majority of its debt into equity
resulting in an expected FY24 net leverage ratio of 0.8x EBITDA and
has eliminated costs in relation to its financing to provide
additional capacity to re-invest in the business.
"We're excited to start this new phase with a strong focus on
clients, people and technology. We believe that to lead the next
era of CX it is key to structure intelligent, agile, and humanized
services, where people must be at the heart of the interaction",
says Dimitrius Oliveira, CEO of
Atento. "We are embarking on this new path more focused than ever
on guaranteeing excellence, growing as a Company, expanding our
geographical presence and revolutionizing the CX sector with a
focus on transformation", he adds.
The Company was advised by Sidley Austin LLP, Loyens & Loeff
Luxembourg SARL and Houlihan Lokey EMEA, LLP in connection with the
Restructuring Plan.
A new path to keep leading the Next Generation Customer
Experience
The Company's business strategy going forward will pivot on
three main pillars: (i) revenue diversification, (ii) driving
operational excellence, and (iii) transformation. In relation to
revenue diversification, Atento aims to drive growth in the US
market, continue to invest in the multilingual offering developed
in EMEA and the Spanish nearshore, and inaugurate the Philippines region as an offshore
location.
At the same time, the Company will continue to explore customer
acquisition opportunities and the promotion of current customers,
focusing on the opportunities provided by digital CX. The Company's
service offering will also focus on evolving from Business Process
Outsourcing to Business Transformation Outsourcing, where AI and
automation play a key role in strengthening competitiveness and are
promoted with a focus on consulting.
Driving operational efficiency based on human-tech
excellence
The Company will strengthen its operational excellence by
focusing on its people and customers, providing continuous
improvements on employee experience that lead to employee
satisfaction, and, empowering its employees with the use of tools
and technologies powered by AI, analytics and automation, resulting
in exceptional customer service with a human touch.
At the same time, Atento remains focused on maintaining the
excellent operational performance that has attracted positive
Customer Satisfaction (CSat) and Net Promoter Score (NPS) records.
In this regard, the Company continues to promote existing models
such as Atento Work from Home Agents (WAHA), allowing Atento to
have an infrastructure prepared to work remotely at any time,
providing well-being and security benefits to its employees and
allowing the Company to make gains in productivity and accelerate
growth.
Accelerating technology implementation: Transformation is
key
Another key pillar of the Company's current strategy is the
promotion of technology in all areas. From the base, the Company is
promoting technology in internal processes. Additionally, Atento
will promote technology in its current work with customers, by
utilizing AI, RPA, bots or analytics that can automate basic
transactions and enhance their transformation. Atento will also
continue to launch and implement technology-driven offerings, in
addition to its existing innovative technology, guided by a
consultative approach to identify opportunities and accompany
clients during their transformation.
In recent years, innovation has become an inherent
characteristic of Atento, key to fostering internal and customer
transformation and a crucial element to this new strategy. Analysts
such as Frost & Sullivan and Gartner have recognized the
Company's leadership in this area in regions such as Latin America, where the Company continues to
be a strong leader due to its experience in the industry, its focus
on cybersecurity and its leading ESG practices in the region.
Initiatives such as the innovation hub, the achievement of ISO
56002 and the constant launch of proprietary technology make a
difference in the sector and endorse the Company's trajectory on
the road to continuous tech transformation.
The implementation of new technologies in services, particularly
in AI and automation, have been critical to the Company's
day-to-day operations. From its application in candidate selection
processes and employee training to the launch of Atena, the
Company's brand persona, these technologies lay the path to follow
with customers to continue offering new technologies with the human
touch at the center of the interaction.
Expectation of growth backed by expertise and trust from
corporate ecosystem
In addition to expanding its presence in other markets and
strengthening its position in existing markets, Atento's financial
strength allows it to continue focusing on its key clients.
Atento will continue to explore opportunities in the digital
sector, with partners such as Microsoft, with whom it is already
working with its Generative AI solution to guide agents in
providing the best interaction.
It is expected that this new strategy will propel the Company's
key position in the market, with unique business knowledge based on
experience and consultancy, evolving its service portfolio to
deliver the best employee experience and continue to drive customer
satisfaction in a changing technology environment.
About Atento
Atento is the largest provider of customer relationship
management and business process outsourcing ("CRM BPO") services in
Latin America and one of the
leading providers worldwide. Atento is also one of the leading
providers of nearshoring CRM BPO services for companies operating
in the United States. Since 1999,
the Company has developed its business model in 17 countries,
employing approximately 120,000 people. Atento has more than 400
clients, offering a wide range of CRM BPO services through multiple
channels. Atento's clients are mostly leading multinational
companies in telecommunications, banking and financial services,
healthcare, retail and public administration sectors. In recent
years the Company has been recognized for its excellence by several
industry analysts across different regions, including Everest
(named as a "star performer" in 2021), Gartner (recognized as
leader for Customer Service BPO in Magic Quadrant since 2021),
Frost & Sullivan (named as a leader in CX Outsourcing in
Latin America for 2022), or Forbes
(selected as one of the top 100 best companies to work in 2023 in
Spain). For more information
visit www.atento.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words
such as "may," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates,"
"believes," "estimates," "predicts," "intends," "continue" or
similar terminology. These statements reflect only Atento's current
expectations and are not guarantees of future events. These
statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results and events to differ materially from those contained
in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to; Atento's future cash requirements;
competition in Atento's highly competitive industries; increases in
the cost of voice and data services or significant interruptions in
these services; Atento's ability to successfully implement its new
business strategy; Atento's ability to keep pace with its clients'
needs for rapid technological change and systems availability; the
continued deployment and adoption of emerging technologies; the
loss, financial difficulties or bankruptcy of any key clients; the
effects of global economic trends on the businesses of Atento's
clients; the non-exclusive nature of Atento's client contracts and
the absence of revenue commitments; security and privacy breaches
of the systems Atento uses to protect personal data; the cost of
pending and future litigation; the cost of defending Atento against
intellectual property infringement claims; extensive regulation
affecting many of Atento's businesses; Atento's ability to protect
its proprietary information or technology; service interruptions to
Atento's data and operation centers; Atento's ability to retain key
personnel and attract a sufficient number of qualified employees;
increases in labor costs and turnover rates; the political,
economic and other conditions in the countries where Atento
operates; changes in foreign exchange rates; Atento's ability to
complete future acquisitions and integrate or achieve the
objectives of its recent and future acquisitions; future
impairments of our substantial goodwill, intangible assets, or
other long-lived assets; and Atento's ability to recover consumer
receivables on behalf of its clients. Atento is also subject to
other risk factors described in documents filed by the company with
the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. These
forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which the
statements were made. Atento undertakes no obligation to update or
revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result
of new information, future events or otherwise.
Media Contact: press@atento.com
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SOURCE Atento S.A.