Canada's Mitel to buy Polycom for about $1.96 bn

Canada's Mitel Networks Corp today said it will acquire voice and telephony gear maker Polycom in a USD 1.96-billion cash-and-stock deal.
The US-based firm has a significant presence in India with about 500 employees. The impact of the transaction on Indian operations could not be ascertained immediately.
Mitel, with over USD 1.2 billion in revenue and 4,500 employees, has operations in over 100 countries. It has offices in more than 80 countries, including India (in Noida).
Once merged, the combined company will have a global workforce of approximately 7,700 employees and over 2,100 patents.
"Mitel will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Polycom common stock in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately USD 1.96 billion," the company said in a statement.

Under the terms of the agreement, Polycom stockholders will get USD 3.12 in cash and 1.31 Mitel common shares for each share of Polycom common stock or USD 13.68 based on the closing price of a Mitel common share on April 13, 2016, it added.

"The transaction represented a 22 per cent premium to Polycom shareholders based on Mitel's and Polycom's "unaffected" share prices as of April 5, 2016.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016.
The combined company will be headquartered in Ottawa, Canada and will operate under the Mitel name while maintaining Polycom's strong global brand.

Richard McBee, Mitel's CEO, will lead the combined organisation, while Steve Spooner, Mitel's CFO, will also continue in that role.
"Polycom is synonymous with high quality and innovative conference and video capabilities... Together with industry-leading voice communications from Mitel, the combined company will have the talent and technology needed to truly deliver integrated solutions to businesses and service providers across enterprise, mobile and cloud environments," McBee said.
Mitel intends to finance the cash portion of the consideration for the acquisition and the refinancing of its existing credit facilities and those of Polycom, using a combination of cash on hand from the combined business and proceeds from new financing.

It has received financing commitments from BofA Merrill Lynch of approximately USD 1.1 billion in the aggregate.