Akamai acquires SpeedEra Networks

SpeedEra Networks, a provider of content delivery services, has announced it has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by US-based Akamai Technologies, in a stock-for-stock merger transaction valued at approximately $130 million.

Under the terms of the agreement, Akamai will acquire all of the outstanding stock options of SpeedEra and its Bangalore-based, wholly-owned subsidiary. The closing of the transaction is expected to occur during the second quarter of 2005.

A statement issued by the company said the acquisition of SpeedEra is expected to enable Akamai to better compete against larger managed services vendors.

Akamai and Speedera provide businesses with a distributed platform for accessing web computing without having to make significant investments in infrastructure.

"For the near foreseeable future, nothing will change in the Bangalore centre or for SpeedEra. It will be business as usual. The Bangalore centre was one of the biggest attractions for Akamai since they did not have a presence in India," said Abhay Dubey, managing director, SpeedEra when contacted.

Dubey refused to give details on whether the SpeedEra brand will die and how the management structure will change, saying there were still many things to be worked out and clarity on such issues will emerge only in the next two weeks.

SpeedEra Networks, formed in 1999, raised around $50 million in three rounds of funding. The company posted revenues of $8.28 million for the second quarter of the fiscal-ended December 2004, a growth of 49 per cent YoY.

It began its operations in India in 2003 and employs around 52 people in their Bangalore centre which does everything from engineering to marketing and business development. SpeedEra's customers in India include Rediff, Wipro and NDTV.

Akamai was founded in 1998 and is a provider of distributed computing solutions and services.