Carlyle Group to pay $2.6B for Syniverse

Fresh off its announced purchase of CommScope Inc., the Carlyle Group announced plans to buy Syniverse Technologies in a $2.6 billion deal, and take that company private as well.
The offer of $31 per share is a 35% premium over Syniverse’s stock share average for the last month leading up to the announcement. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011.
“Syniverse is leading the way in the mobile space with our roaming, messaging and network solutions,” said Tony Holcombe, president and CEO, Syniverse. “The Carlyle Group recognizes the potential of both Syniverse and mobile communications, and it is committed to supporting our ability to better serve our customers, grow our business around the world, and provide long-term opportunities for our employees. As a private company we believe Syniverse will have the ability to better focus on the long term strategic direction of our customers and our industry.”
During the second quarter, Syniverse said it reached a new milestone of moving 1.6 billion mobile messages per day on average, which represents an increase of 23% from a year ago. The company said its peer-to-peer messaging volumes, including both short message service and multimedia message service, were up 23% quarter over quarter, and MMS traffic grew 202% year over year.
The company cancelled a conference call regarding its third-quarter earnings due to the impending buyout, but plans to issue a news release after the stock market closes Nov. 2.