Mitel is to acquire Mavenir Systems, a provider of software-based networking solutions for mobile carriers in a cash and stock deal valued at approximately USD560 million.
Under the terms of the merger agreement, Mitel will commence an exchange offer pursuant to which Mavenir stockholders will be entitled to elect to receive either all-cash or all-stock consideration for each share of Mavenir common stock, subject to proration, in either case with a value of USD11.08 plus 0.675 of a Mitel common share, or USD17.94 based on the closing price of a Mitel common share on February 27, 2015.
The transition to LTE has hit an inflection point, with carriers around the world beginning to transition to all-IP 4G mobile, unlocking the potential for more efficient delivery of high quality voice services, new rich communications services, and new revenue sources for mobile carriers. With the acquisition of Mavenir, Mitel expects to expand its total addressable market by approximately USD14B by 2018*, and be well positioned to capitalise on increasing demand for 4G LTE services, which is growing at approximately 52% annually (CAGR).
"Mitel is a leader in enterprise and cloud communications, markets in which mobility is becoming increasingly influential. With wireless adoption of IP and 4G LTE and demand for next gen mobile services ramping quickly, we see a compelling opportunity to capitalise on a major market transition to add a high-growth mobile business to Mitel," says Rich McBee, President and CEO of Mitel. "We believe the combination of Mitel and Mavenir creates a powerful new value proposition for enterprises and mobile service providers, using a common IP technology layer as the foundation for convergence, growth and competitive differentiation."
With an established footprint of over 130 mobile customers including 15 of the top 20 mobile carriers worldwide, Mavenir is a leader in 4G LTE mobile solutions helping to define the market with a series of industry firsts, including: the world's first live network deployments of Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and RCS5 with MetroPCS (now T-Mobile); the first mobile network deployment of IMS-based VoWi-Fi (Wi-Fi calling) with T-Mobile US; and the first implementation of Virtualized RCSe with Deutsche Telekom. The deal provides Mavenir the financial and operational footprint to drive further market expansion of the company's award-winning mobile solutions.
"The move to all-IP LTE mobile networks has created a unique opportunity for service providers to leverage a converged all-IP network to offer feature-rich business and consumer communication services to any device, anywhere, on any access network," says Pardeep Kohli, President and CEO, of Mavenir. "We believe that the combined company is ideally positioned to capitalize on the trends within the communications industry today; namely, the convergence across enterprise and mobile networks to all-IP technologies, and the transition to cloud-based unified communications telephony and software-defined virtualised infrastructure."
Upon closing of the transaction, Mavenir will become the mobile business division of Mitel, operating under the brand Mavenir. Kohli will join Mitel in the role of President, Mavenir, reporting to McBee.
