Plantronics to acquire Polycom for USD 2 billion

News Broadband Global 28 MRT 2018
Plantronics to acquire Polycom for USD 2 billion

Plantronics has agreed to acquire Polycom for USD 2 billion, the same price the company was sold to private equity firm Siris Capital two years ago. The deal sees Plantronics expand its product portfolio into the video conferencing and collaboration market. 

Plantronics said the takeover should generate synergies of USD 75 million within a year of closing. The company has secured USD 1.365 billion in debt financing to help pay for the acquisition. Closing is expected by Q3 2018. 

Polycom was taken private two years ago after Siris beat a takeover bid from Mitel for the company. In 2017, Polycom generated an adjusted operating profit of USD 183 million on revenues of USD 1.1 billion, with an adjusted gross margin of 56.6 percent. Polycom CEO Mary McDowell said the company "has returned to growth by focusing on building strong ecosystem partnerships and delivering innovative, smart solutions for our customers and partners."

Siris will still hold a 16 percent stake in the combined group, after receiving 6.35 million Plantronics shares as partial payment for the deal, equal to USD 362 million. The Siris partners Frank Baker and Daniel Moloney will join the Plantronics board. 

Categories:

Fixed

Companies:

Mitel,  Plantronics,  Polycom

Regions:

Global

Tags:

Unified communications, Enterprise equipment, Videoconferencing, M&A buyouts & divestments

Related Articles

GLOBAL 28 AUG 2020

Siris sells most of its shares in Poly, adjusting board of directors

Private equity firm Siris Capital Group has sold 4.1 million out of its 7.1 million shares in Plantronics, or Poly. The sold shares represent 57 percent of Siris' stake in Poly and about 10 percent of all Poly outstanding shares. Siris bought Polycom in 2016 for USD 2 billion, and then took the company private. Siris then sold Polycom to Plantronics in 2018, also for USD 2 billion. The equity firm now feels the time is right to get a return on its original investment, Poly said.

GLOBAL 8 MEI 2019

Poly doubles revenues to USD 488 mln in mixed Q4

Poly, which changed its name from Plantronics after getting acquired by Polycom, reported results for the fourth quarter at the high end of expectations, with CEO Joe Burton saying the number confirm the business logic behind the merger of the two companies. Completion of the Polycom acquisition took place on 2 July. Poly also announced it will be distributing a quarterly cash dividend of USD 0.15 per share. 

GLOBAL 18 MRT 2019

Plantronics changes name to Poly after Polycom takeover

Plantronics announced it's changing its name to Poly, following its takeover of Polycom last year. Poly is meant to stand for 'many' and underline the breadth of endpoints offered by the company across unified communications and collaboration platforms.

GLOBAL 28 DEC 2018

Puorro joins Plantronics as EVP, GM, Group Systems

Plantronics appointed Tom Puorro as EVP, General Manager, Group Systems, effective from 18 December. In this role, Puorro will lead the team responsible for audio and video collaboration products for the modern workplace. Puorro joins the Plantronics leadership team as the company is focusing more heavily on simplifying the conferencing experience, regardless of the underlying UC platforms. Puorro brings with him 25 years of UC experience, most recently at Cisco in the role of VP, Engineering and VP & GM of

GLOBAL 20 NOV 2018

Plantronics unveils new VVX x50 Series Obi Edition phones

The VVX x50 Series OBi Edition phones are managed through the Polycom cloud service, Polycom Device Management Services for Service Providers (PDMS-SP), a web-based configuration tool. This cloud service simplifies the management and provides actionable analytics and streamlines troubleshooting of Polycom desk phones. As a multi-tenant platform, PDMS-SP and VVX x50 Series OBi Edition phones support multiple installations and are scalable to up to 1 million UCS devices, all from within the cloud-based portal

GLOBAL 27 SEP 2018

Plantronics introduces Elara phone station for mobile-first workers

Plantronics announced the Plantronics Elara 60 Series, a new category of productivity platform designed for the increasingly mobile-first worker. Plantronics Elara brings desk phone-like functionalities to mobile phones, including headset, speakerphone, and handset options. This mobile phone station receives Microsoft Teams notifications and provides users with a one-touch or voice-activated Microsoft Teams experience. Plantronics Elara 60 Series will ship in early 2019.

GLOBAL 4 JUL 2018

Plantronics closes acquisition of Polycom with fresh USD 1.275 bln loan

Under the terms of the transaction, Triangle Private Holdings affiliate Siris has appointed two new members to the Plantronics board of directors, namely Frank Baker, a co-founder and managing partner, and Daniel Moloney, an executive partner. Plantronics confirmed the deal will be immediately accretive to adjusted earnings per share and that it will achieve annual run-rate cost synergies of USD 75 million within 12 months. 

GLOBAL 30 MEI 2018

Polycom introduces cloud services for device management

Polycom has unveiled a new range of cloud services to help customers manage their devices. The company's customers have over 15 million desktop and conference phones in use, and the Polycom Device Management Services is expected to help them simplify management, provisioning, and updating. The services will be extended later to the company's videoconferencing systems, as well as APIs introduced for services providers. 

GLOBAL 24 APR 2018

Private equity group to buy Mitel for USD 2 billion

Mitel has agreed to be acquired by Searchlight Capital Partners in an all-cash transaction worth about USD 2.0 billion, including Mitel's net debt. Mitel's shareholders will receive USD 11.15 per share in cash, a 24 percent premium over the 90-day weighted average price. When the transaction completes, Mitel will become a privately held company, a move expected to provide it with additional flexibility to accelerate its move-to-the-cloud strategy.

GLOBAL 29 MRT 2018

Plantronics koopt Polycom voor 2 miljard dollar

Volgens Plantronics levert de overname binnen het eerste jaar na voltooiing synergievoordelen op ter grootte van 75 miljoen dollar. Het bedrijf heeft een bedrag van 1,365 miljard dollar gereserveerd in schuldfinanciering waaruit de overname bekostigd kan worden. Naar verwachting zal de overname in het derde kwartaal zijn doorgang vinden. 

GLOBAL 28 MRT 2018

Microsoft catches up with Cisco in USD 10 bln collaboration market

Total revenues from collaboration – which includes enterprise voice, UC applications, telepresence, email software, enterprise content management, enterprise social networks and a range of cloud communications and applications – reached an all-time high of just under USD 10 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to a report from Synergy Research Group. Revenues from hosted/cloud solutions surged 26 percent year on year in Q4 while revenue from premise-based systems declined 4 percent. Cisco and Mi

UNITED STATES 5 JAN 2018

Polycom buys specialist in VoIP audio systems

Polycom has agreed to buy Obihai Technology, a specialist in VoIP audio systems based in San Jose. Polycom said Ohibai's software and hardware for VoIP endpoints and development team will broaden its portfolio of desktop phones and VoIP systems and make the company more competitive in the global voice market. When the deal completes, Polycom expects to add more cloud-based capabilities and Analog Terminal Adapter systems to its solutions portfolio.

GLOBAL 11 AUG 2017

RingCentral names adviser after takeover interest - report

Unified communications provider RingCentral is working with an adviser after receiving takeover interest, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Interest may be from private equity firms or other cloud communciations providers, two sources said. The company's shares rose 10 percent after the report, giving it a market capitalisation of around USD 3 billion. RingCentral declined to comment.

GLOBAL 7 JUN 2017

Polycom introduces Polycom Pano

Polycom introduced Polycom Pano, a service that enables participants in a business meeting to share up to four streams of simultaneous content side-by-side, from any device. Thanks to the new service, customers can simply connect Polycom Pano to any display to enable wireless content sharing from PCs, Macs, tablets, and smartphones – even live video. Pano includes built-in security safeguards that limit sharing to the target monitor and that protect content once a meeting is concluded.

GLOBAL 7 SEP 2016

Former Nokia exec McDowell named CEO of Polycom

Polycom's new owner Sisis Capital has proposed its partner Mary McDowell as the new CEO of the videoconferencing specialist. Pending the closing of the takeover, expected in the next month, McDowell will replace Peter Leav as CEO. Prior to working as an Executive Partner at Siris Capital, McDowell was the EVP, Mobile Phones at Nokia, where she held global P&L responsibility for the feature phone business and associated software and digital services. She joined Nokia in 2004 to lead the Enterprise Solutions

Just In

14:00

Vi introduces Niyo Zero Forex Markup Card for travelers

13:39

True reshuffles executive team

19 DEC 16:42

SLT-Mobitel launches 5G network in Sri Lanka

19 DEC 16:19

Dialog Axiata launches 5G network, connects 1.5 million subscribers

Commentary

13:56

Video market set for slower growth ahead

11:38

Netflix buys Warner Bros to deepen content catalogue

11:11

KPN's mixed performance in Q3 raises questions for strategy day

15:26

Stock markets breaking records but what happened to Odido's IPO plans?

Background

01:04

The week in telecom: Wi-Fi bolt-ons take off to boost broadband growth, video market works on consolidation

01:39

The week in telecom: Netflix wins bidding for Warner Bros, Apple poaches new execs, Samsung debuts trifold

13:51

Proximus vs. Telenet: Proximus performs better in Q3 while Telenet uses up cash

14:16

Proximus Domestic still struggling with low margins

Complete profile

Before downloading the whitepaper, we would like to ask you to complete your profile with company and position. After confirming you will receive the white paper.