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Brightstar 20:20 has a five-star Savoy launch


• Late bids failed to scupper deal, thanks to 20:20 Mobile’s staff, says Brightstar’s Michel • Official ‘party’ draws 200, including Samsung, Apple, HTC, EE, O2, CWP and Phones 4u


By Michael Garwood


Brightstar 20:20 managing director Jim Michel has thanked 20:20 Mobile staff for what he claims ensured Brightstar’s bid for the company went through – despite late offers from other parties. Michel made the comments during the


firm’s official launch event at the Savoy Hotel in London on April 2, two months after US giant Brightstar completed its acquisition of 20:20 Mobile Group. The company


almost 200 industry


gathered together guests,


from


Samsung, Apple, HTC, EE, O2, Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4u, to provide updates on the business post-takeover, as well as discussions on future market trends courtesy of analysts CCS Insight – see adjoining page. Michel, who was speaking on stage during a question and answer session, revealed


that discussions between


parent company Brightstar Corp and 20:20 began more than two years ago – and that a number of late attempts were made from unnamed buyers looking to scupper the deal.


Hard negotiations He claimed it


management team at 20:20


was the senior which


helped to ensure that it was Brightstar that clinched the deal. “It was two years of hard negotiations,” Michel told the audience at the The River Room at the Savoy. “There were also other people coming in bidding late to buy the organisation, but we felt that the management team at 20:20 wanted to sell to Brightstar – and felt that we were right for the company. “For two years they made sure it was Brightstar that purchased the organisation. The previous management team wanted to be part of Brightstar and now we are here. Brightstar waited and bided its time, and in July last year they went in seriously – and felt confident


Making its mark: Brightstar Corporation announced its acquisition of 20:20 Mobile Group on February 7 in London and Miami


they would get the business. It then took another six months to complete.” Michel also reeled off a number of reasons behind Brightstar’s desire to acquire the 20:20 Mobile Group, claiming the two organisations shared similar views on the industry – particularly around services. In addition to traditional handset and accessory distribution, offers


a wide range


Brightstar of


additional “value” focused services to the telecoms industry.


and Examples


include device insurance, full end-to-end supply chain solutions


£1.2bn


In annual sales across Brightstar 20:20


management,


store franchising (such as Yiogo in Spain, in which it manages all stock and even its call centres) buyback and trade in, leasing and logistics.


“Never say never. What is clear is that SoftBank and Brightstar are in acquisition mode”


Michel highlighted 20:20’s insurance fulfilment contracts, (understood to be on behalf of O2), as well as its Active 8 online connection service, which is used by a number of major high-street retailers, said to include Argos and Tesco. It was also a ready-made route back into Europe for Brightstar, a region it had largely been absent from since the sale of Brightstar Europe to then-JV partner Tech Data Mobile for £106 million in 2012. “There are a lot of other organisations which don’t compare,


because 20:20


offers services,” said Michel. “The service proposition mirrored


that of Brightstar and that 20:20 was the right fit for the organisation. “The Brightstar model is


all about


acquiring organisations or partnering with organisations and making them grow. With 20:20 it was about getting in to the European region, the only region our CEO [Marcelo Claure] wasn’t in.”


More acquisitions? Michel also said he expects further acquisitions to be made by


the


organisation – describing Brightstar and majority shareholder SoftBank – which invested $1.26 billion for a 57 per cent stake in October – as in “acquisition mode”.


SoftBank, Brightstar’s Jim Michel (right) with Shaun Collins of CCS Insight at the launch which also


acquired a 78 per cent share in US operator Sprint Nextel in July for $21.6 billion, has investments in more than 1,300 business globally, including a 37 per cent share of online retailer Alibaba, described by many as China’s Amazon. “Never say never,” said Michel.


Has Brightstar added EE to its buyback business?


Michel revealed Brightstar 20:20 has added to its number of UK oper- ator BuyBack and Trade-In Solu- tions partnerships – understood to be EE. Brightstar


acquired UK firm


Mobile Phones Xchange (MPX) in 2012, a company that provides buy- back and recycling services for a number of leading organisations, including Vodafone. Publicly, only Vodafone has been


confirmed as a buyback partner. Michel said on stage: “We do


buyback programmes with two big operators in the UK.” The MPX business model has


been deployed by Brightstar into its other markets across the world, with around 15 million buybacks expected this year.


1,200 Post-event entertainment aboard the Silver Sturgeon cruise on the River Thames


“What’s clear is that SoftBank and Brightstar are in acquisition mode. Whether that will happen again in the UK, I don’t know. They’ve certainly not spoken to me about it. SoftBank has 1,300 companies in the umbrella and that’s huge. It’s not going to stop there.” Brightstar 20:20 has around 8,000 active


customers including network operators, MVNOs, retailers, independent telecoms specialists, distributors and insurance providers. The organisation as a whole works with more than 200 network operators (including Telefonica and Vodafone) and 40,000 retailers across more than 100 territories worldwide.


Staff across UK and European markets


Big difference Claure said in February Brightstar,


which he


describes as the biggest mobile distributor on the planet, will increase handset shipments to around 138 million


this year (no year-on-year comparison available),


Michel added: “SoftBank offers us


scale. If you look at what 20:20 could do a year ago to what they can do now, there’s a big difference.”


of which around seven


million will go through its European arm, Brightstar 20:20.


8,000


active customers working with Brightstar 20:20


7m


handsets to be shipped through Brightstar 20:20 this year


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