USD 800 M DEAL - Inteliquent Agrees to be Acquired by GTCR
Inteliquent Agrees to be Acquired by GTCR
GTCR to pay $23.00 per share, representing a 37% premium to Inteliquent’s closing stock price on November 1, 2016
Transaction valued at approximately $800 million
CHICAGO, Nov. 02, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Inteliquent, Inc. (NASDAQ:IQNT), a premier interconnection partner for communications service providers of all types, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of GTCR LLC, a leading private equity firm, and merged with a subsidiary of Onvoy, LLC a fast-growing leader in Communications Enablement services. Under the terms of the agreement, Inteliquent stockholders of record will receive $23.00 in cash per share of common stock, which represents a 37% premium to Inteliquent’s closing stock price on November 1, 2016. The value of the transaction is approximately $800 million.
“Over the past several quarters, Inteliquent has been transforming its business to become a leader in the next-generation communications services market,” said Matt Carter, Inteliquent’s Chief Executive Officer. “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.”
“We are excited to partner with the Inteliquent and Onvoy management teams to create a leading provider of communications enablement solutions,” added GTCR 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’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,” said Fritz Hendricks, Chief Executive Officer of Onvoy. “We look forward to working with the Inteliquent team to continue the network expansion and to empower innovation for our shared customer base.”
The combined company intends to continue to maintain a significant presence in Chicago.
Additional Transaction Details
The Inteliquent Board of Directors unanimously approved the transaction and agreed to recommend that Inteliquent’s stockholders vote to adopt the definitive agreement. The transaction is subject to certain conditions, including approval from Inteliquent stockholders, the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as well as FCC and state regulatory approvals, approvals and other customary closing conditions. There is no financing condition associated with the proposed acquisition. Inteliquent expects to hold a special meeting of its stockholders to consider and act upon the transaction as promptly as practicable. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2017.
Under the terms of the agreement, for a period of 30 calendar days, Inteliquent may solicit alternative proposals from third parties. Inteliquent does not anticipate that it will disclose any developments with regard to this process unless and until the Inteliquent Board of Directors makes a decision with respect to a potential superior proposal. There are no guarantees that this process will result in a superior proposal.
Perella Weinberg Partners is acting as exclusive financial advisor to Inteliquent with Kirkland & Ellis LLP serving as legal counsel. Credit Suisse is acting as exclusive financial advisor to GTCR and Onvoy with Latham & Watkins LLP serving as legal counsel.
Inteliquent Third Quarter Earnings Results
In light of today’s transaction, Inteliquent has canceled its third quarter 2016 earnings conference call previously scheduled to take place on Thursday, November 3, 2016 at 10:00 am Eastern Time. Inteliquent will file its Form 10-Q for the third quarter of 2016 on or before November 9, 2016.
About Inteliquent
Inteliquent is a premier interconnection partner for communication service providers of all types. As the nation’s highest quality provider of voice and messaging interconnection services, Inteliquent is used by nearly all national and regional wireless carriers, cable companies, and CLECs in the markets it serves, and its network carries approximately 21 billion minutes of traffic per month. With the recent launch of its Omni IQsm solution, Inteliquent is now also fully dedicated to supporting the growing market of next generation service providers. For more information, please visit www.inteliquent.com.
About GTCR
Founded in 1980, GTCR is a leading private equity firm focused on investing in growth companies in the Financial Services & Technology, Healthcare, Technology, Media & Telecommunications and Growth Business Services industries. The Chicago-based firm pioneered The Leaders Strategy™ – finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and organic growth. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $12 billion in over 200 companies. For more information, please visit www.gtcr.com.
About Onvoy
Onvoy is a leading Communications Enabler offering voice, messaging and mobility solutions supported by our nationwide carrier-grade network. Committed to empowering customers with the solutions they need to enable global communications across various applications in a continuously changing environment, Onvoy employs state of the art technology and provides customers control of their core communications infrastructure via carrier platforms and APIs. These interfaces allow customers to build, provision and support more innovative and integrated communication services. For more information, please visit www.onvoy.com.