Twilio to acquire $750m minority stake in Syniverse
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Twilio to acquire $750m minority stake in Syniverse

James Attwood Carlyle.jpg

Syniverse and Twilio have entered into a partnership to develop next-gen mobile communications solutions and drive long-term growth.

As part of this collaboration, both companies have signed a definitive agreement with Twilio set to invest up to $750 million cash in Syniverse and become a significant minority owner of the company.

Under the terms of the acquisition, the Carlyle Group, Syniverse’s current majority owner, will retain its majority interest in the company.

Together, Syniverse will benefit from Twilio’s experience serving enterprise customers to take advantage of the next wave of growth in mobile communications. While at the same time, Syniverse will be better positioned to serve its carrier customers through continued innovation leading to long-term growth.

“We are thrilled to enter into this partnership with Twilio, which we believe will accelerate our next phase of growth as the world’s most connected company,” said James Attwood (pictured), executive chairman of Syniverse.

“The partnership will provide Syniverse access to Twilio’s extensive enterprise and API services expertise, creating opportunities to continue to build on Syniverse’s highly innovative product portfolio that helps mobile network operators and enterprises make communications better for their customers.”

In addition, the two will enter into a wholesale agreement where Syniverse will process, route and deliver application-to-person (A2P) messages originating and/or terminating between Twilio’s customers and mobile network operators.

Additionally, under the terms of the agreement, Syniverse and Twilio will seek additional funding either through a public market transaction or an additional equity investment. The proceeds of this, together with the investment by Twilio, will be used to pay down Syniverse’s debt as well as to pay transaction fees and expenses.

“Twilio’s vision is to build the world’s leading customer engagement platform. As messaging becomes a preferred way for consumers to communicate with brands, Syniverse helps remove the complexity of the interconnected telecommunications ecosystem, so Twilio can provide best-in-class messaging services to its customers globally,” said Chee Chew, chief product officer at Twilio.

 “We have long been a Syniverse customer and are pleased to expand our relationship to provide reliable, scalable and rich two-way messaging for businesses and their customers.”

The deal is expected to close before the end of 2021.

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