17 March 2003 -- The management of KPNQwest Portugal is to acquire the Portuguese subsidiary of Netherlands-based KPNQwest N.V. through a management buy-out, supported by Espirito Santo Capital.
The process began back in June 2002, when several entities were interested in acquiring the company. The management presented its bid in July. Despite the undefined shareholder's structure and the long acquisition process, the operation and organisation of KPNQwest Portugal have not been affected. Indeed, sales have grown 27.4% during the same period.
"The success of our company, through 2002 difficulties, is due essentially to our dedication, in the last seven years, to the optimisation of our quality of services, and to the support given to our customers," said managing director David Antunes.
The company, which has a team of 38 professionals, specialises in the business-to-business market and foresees sustained growth in 2003 due to launching new products, namely the "Corporate ADSL" service, and the high number of new contracts already closed during Q1/2003.
KPNQwest Portugal began its activity in March 1996 as EUnet Portugal, which was created through the integration of clients, infrastructure and employees of PUUG, the pioneer Internet operator in Portugal in 1990, and supported by EUnet International, a European operator since 1982.
In 1998 EUnet International was acquired by Qwest Communications International Inc. Through a joint-venture between Qwest and Dutch national operator KPN Telecom B.V., KPNQwest N.V. was created and began its operations in April 1999, integrating the former EUnet operations in 14 European countries. EUnet Portugal changed its name to KPNQwest Portugal in December 1999.
In May 2002 KPNQwest N.V., after having built and managed the largest pan-European fibre-optic network, declared bankruptcy. However, the Portuguese subsidiary not only continued its activity but even reinforced its position in the Portuguese market.
KPNQwest Portugal maintains its positioning as a carrier and ISP, supplying IP connectivity to other ISP and companies, offering services of data communications, IPVPN, hosting, security and multimedia.