Mitel is in talks to purchase global IT giant Atos’ unified communications business in a bid to expand its global customer base and product portfolio.
The Kanata-based telecom firm says it has entered into exclusive negotiations with Atos to acquire Unify, the French IT company’s unified communications arm. Mitel said in a news release it expects the deal to close in the second half of 2023 pending approval from regulators and “relevant employee representative bodies.”
Should the deal go through, Mitel says the combined entity would have in excess of 75 million unified communications customers in more than 100 countries.
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“The proposed transaction would also notably expand Mitel’s reach and organizational scale, and lead to increased global revenues and profitability,” the company added.
According to the statement, Mitel president and CEO Tarun Loomba would continue to serve in the same roles with the combined firm, while other members of the management team would be selected from both companies.
“The UC industry today holds significant opportunities to grow through M&A, aligning well with Mitel’s strategy and expertise,” Loomba said in the release. “The addition of Unify’s portfolio, partners and talent would significantly expand Mitel’s scale and offerings, enabling us together to offer customers even greater choice and flexibility throughout the life cycle of their business communications.”
Under the transaction, Mitel would acquire Unify’s voice platforms, collaboration and contact centre products, device portfolio and related intellectual property.
The Kanata firm said the combined entity “would have the operational scale, portfolio, geographic reach, go-to-market resources, and financial profile to modernize the UC experience for customers faster and more effectively than either company could do alone.”
The proposed deal comes just over four years after Mitel – which was once one of the National Capital Region’s largest independently owned tech companies – was itself acquired by New York-based private equity firm Searchlight Capital Partners in a US$2-billion all-cash deal.
The company, which specializes in cloud-based communications platforms, still employs hundreds of people in the National Capital Region.
