The provider of voice and messaging connectivity for communication service providers (CSPs) sold its global data services business to network integrator GTT for $54.5 million in 2013 but has now entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of GTCR LLC. It will be merged with a subsidiary of Onvoy, which has a carrier-grade network offering nationwide wholesale communications services and was itself bought by GTCR in May 2016.
“We are excited to partner with the Inteliquent and Onvoy management teams to create a leading provider of communications enablement solutions,” said GTCR’s managing director Lawrence Fey.
“The combination of Inteliquent and Onvoy is transformational and creates an entity that is well positioned to provide robust next-generation solutions to the communications enablement market.”
Inteliquent has been transforming its business over the past year and in May, Inteliquent selected DIGITALK carrier cloud for long distance international (LDI) voice termination services. Matt Carter, Inteliquent’s CEO, said: “The acquisition of Inteliquent by GTCR and Onvoy validates our growth forward strategy. We believe this transaction will deliver immediate, significant and certain cash value to our stockholders while creating a market leading provider.”
Under the deal’s terms, Inteliquent stockholders of record will receive $23 in cash per share of common stock, which represents a 37% premium to Inteliquent’s closing stock price on November 1, 2016. Inteliquent’s board of directors unanimously approved the transaction and agreed to recommend it to stockholders.
Fritz Hendricks, chief executive officer of Onvoy, added: “Inteliquent’s commitment to the core switching infrastructure has earned the trust of the nation’s top carriers. We believe this will lead to additional opportunities for other carriers to partner with Inteliquent to outsource network infrastructure and achieve cost savings without sacrificing quality and reliability.”
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2017 and the combined company intends to continue maintaining a significant presence in Chicago.
