Swedish mobile consumer engagement company Sinch has acquired US independent voice communications provider Inteliquent for $1.14bn; the company’s fifth acquisition in a year.
The definitive agreement is subject to approval from regulatory authorities and is expected to close in the second half of 2021.
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Inteliquent’s cloud platform is used by businesses across the US to power voice communications. Its software is directly connected to telecom carries and gives it coverage of 94% of the US population.
The deal is aimed at boosting Sinch’s communications platform as a service offering. Sinch provides an omnichannel platform to enable businesses to send mobile messages, voice messages and videos in seconds. Its platform is used by eight of the ten largest US tech companies and handles 25 billion API transactions per year.
Acquiring Inteliquent also gives Sinch an additional foothold in the US voice communication market and another launching off point to address emerging geographies such as India and Latin America.
The Inteliquent deal also puts Sinch in a stronger position to take on rival Twilio in the US.
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By GlobalDataInteliquent is currently owned by private equity firm GTCR.
“Becoming a leader in the US voice market is key to establish Sinch as the leading global cloud communications platform,” said Sinch CEO Oscar Werner in a statement.
“Inteliquent serves the largest and most demanding voice customers in America with superior quality backed by a fully-owned network across the entire US. Our joint strengths in voice and messaging provide a unique position to grow our business and power a superior customer experience for our customers.”
Inteliquent CEO Ed O’Hara said:
“We’re excited about the tremendous opportunities this combination unlocks, expanding the services we can provide to our customers. Combining our leading voice offering with Sinch’s global messaging capabilities truly positions us for leadership in the rapidly developing market for cloud communications.”
Softbank fuels Sinch’s shopping spree
Over the past year Sinch has been on a shopping spree, snapping up four companies prior to Inteliquent. They include SAP Digital Interconnect for £198m, Wavy for £98m, Chatlayer for £4m and ACL mobile for £56m.
In December 2020 SoftBank Group subsidiary SB Management acquired a 10.1% stake in Sinch for $700m.
Sinch said at the time it would use the proceeds of the stock sale to fund future mergers and acquisitions and has stuck to its word with the purchase of Inteliquent.
Since it was founded in 2008 in Stockholm, the firm has grown from a six-person team to a 500-strong company. In 2020 it was the best-performing company on the Stoxx Europe 600 index.
Sinch’s market cap is currently $13bn.
Read more: Sinch sells 10% stake to SoftBank to fund M&A strategy
