RIGA - Exigen Latvia, a subsidiary of the Exigen Group, the U.S. business process solutions company, announced last week that it was organizing the royalty handling system for the world's top two music giants - Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group.
Exigen Group spokesman Marc Christianssen told the Dienas Bizness daily that the group could raise some $100 million in revenues over the coming years as a result of the new system.
This could be the single largest order in Latvia's IT sector up to the present, even if not all of the $100 million goes directly to Exigen Latvia.
The paper added that UMG and WMG, together with the Exigen Group, would set up the joint venture Royalty Services L.P. This venture will initially serve all UMG and WMG transactions in the American market, while later it would span the globe.
The contract with UMG and WMG envisages a nine-year initial work period, including two years of introduction time and seven years of operation time.
Exigen Latvia is one of the largest software-writing companies in the country. In 2003 it generated sales of 5.9 million lats (8.6 million euros) and made profits of 255,600 lats. In September the Exigen Group announced its takeover of Dati. Exigen Group, Latvia's software writing company that has offices in North America, Europe and Australia, employs 550 people across the world.