Communications giant Polycom scraps $1.96BN merger with Mitel, goes private instead
The $1.96 billion merger that enterprise communications providers Polycom Inc. and Mitel Networks Inc. have been negotiating for the past year is off the table. The former company abruptly announced today that it’s accepted a rivaling $2 billion bid from Siris Capital Group LLC, a private equity firm based in New York. According to the official press release, its board of directors took less than 24 hours to decide on the move.
The process was set in motion yesterday when Polycom received the fund’s bid out of the blue and quickly determined that it’s more favorable than what Mitel had offered. Its directors then reached out to their counterparts at the teleconferencing provider for a new offer but were informed that none will be made, which prompted them to quickly approve Siris Capital’s proposal. Stockholders stand to receive $12.50 per share in cash from the private equity firm after the deal completes, or 14 percent more than they would have gotten if the merger had been approved.
Polycom, for its part, will be able operate without the short-term performance pressures that publicly traded companies are subject to on Wall Street. This new freedom should enable management to invest more resources in fostering the company’s long-term growth prospects, a change of gear that couldn’t have come at a better time. Traditional communications vendors are facing fierce competition from messaging providers such as Slack Inc. and Atlassian Inc. that promise to reduce the amount of time that workers spend in meetings. Many issues that once required a teleconference to resolve can now be handled with a few brief messages and a bot command or two.
The increased competition has also been taking its toll on Mitel, which had hoped to improve its position by absorbing Polycom. The merger would have allowed the companies to consolidate their staffs in many areas and put forth a one-stop-shop value proposition spanning everything from telephony to videoconferencing. Now that the deal is off the table, the company will have to go at it alone and without the freedom afforded to its soon-to-be privatized peer. On the plus side, however, it’s entitled to a $60 million compensation for the cancellation, which should soften the blow somewhat in the short term.
Image via Geralt
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