Tata Communications Ltd on Wednesday, June 28, said it will acquire US-based and New York Stock Exchange-listed Kaleyra Inc in an all-cash deal.

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Under the terms of the agreement, Tata Communications has agreed to acquire Kaleyra at a price per share of $7.25 for a total consideration of approximately $100 million and the assumption of all outstanding debt, the company said in an exchange filing

With this transaction, Tata Communications will get a stronghold in the business communications market in banking and financial services, retail, and digital commerce industries across global markets, in addition to a strong team with expertise in technology, engineering, and R&D.

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Also, Tata Communications will benefit from tier 1 carrier connections in the US, ready connectors to third-party platforms, and video services without the need for additional software plugins.

The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both Tata Communications and Kaleyra. The consummation of the deal is subject to approval by Kaleyra’s stockholders, certain regulatory approvals, and other customary closing conditions.

Upon closing of the transaction, expected in 6-9 months, Kaleyra Inc will become a subsidiary of Tata Communications Ltd. For the full year ended December 31, 2022, Kaleyra reported revenue of $339.2 million ($353.3 million in constant currency), an increase of 26.7 percent compared to the full year 2021 (32 percent increase in constant currency).

A.S. Lakshminarayanan, MD and CEO of Tata Communications, said the company is excited about Kaleyra's remarkable talent and their demonstrated capabilities in next-gen technologies. With this acquisition, the company will further build intelligent, intuitive, and innovative multi-channel communication solutions to unlock new growth opportunities for our customers.

Dario Calogero, Founder and the CEO of Kaleyra, said, "When we launched Kaleyra 24 years ago with my co-founder Simone Fubini, I could hardly envision that our voyage would take us from a small Italian startup, to global expansion, a publicly listed NYSE company, and now working together with a great technology leader like Tata Communications."

Kaleyra is a global omnichannel integrated communication services provider with a set of proprietary platforms, offering targeted personalisation through messaging, video, push notifications, e-mail and voice-based services, and chatbots.

It has subsidiaries in the US, Italy, India, UAE, Germany, UK, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Africa, and Canada.

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Shares of Tata Communications Ltd ended at Rs 1,582.10, up by Rs 12.75, or 0.81 percent on the BSE.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:Jun 28, 2023 7:39 PM IST