American Virtual Cloud Technologies, Inc. and Ribbon Communications Inc. announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for AVCtechnologies to acquire Kandy Communications, an industry-leading proprietary, multi-tenant, highly scalable cloud communications platform, from Ribbon, in an all-stock transaction.
The proposed acquisition combines AVCtechnologies’ 30+ years of experience delivering exceptional white-glove customer service to enterprise customers across a range of managed IT solutions with Kandy’s pure-play, industry-leading, proprietary UCaaS, CPaaS, and CCaaS platform to provide a best-in-class, end-to-end communication experience for channel partners, their customers and end users.
“We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Kandy, which is a major step in strengthening our ability to deliver a comprehensive set of cloud solutions and managed services offerings to our customers,” said AVCtechnologies CEO Darrell J. Mays. “We are extremely fortunate to be able to acquire Kandy, which has built one of the most impressive and advanced cloud communication platforms in the world.”
“This acquisition significantly accelerates our growth strategy and vision to become a leading provider in the large and fast-growing cloud communications industry while increasing our penetration into global medium-sized and large enterprise clients,” added Graham McGonigal, AVCtechnologies Chief Operating Officer.
Founded in 2014, Kandy is a global provider of complex deployments of UCaaS, CPaaS, and CCaaS for mid-market and enterprise customers across its powerful, proprietary multi-tenant, highly scalable cloud platform. The Kandy platform also includes pre-built customer engagement tools, based on WebRTC technology, known as Kandy Wrappers, and provides white-labeled services to a variety of customers including communications service providers and systems integrators.
Kandy was created to help enterprise adopt the cloud, embrace agile innovation and enable programmable communications to save cost, increase productivity, and grow revenues. With Kandy, communication becomes more immediate and contextual resulting in better business outcomes.
Kandy has built a comprehensive roster of globally recognized customers, including AT&T, City of Los Angeles, IBM, and Etisalat (the largest telecom provider in the UAE).
Bruce McClelland, Ribbon’s CEO, stated “We are extremely impressed with the tremendous depth of talent and vision of the AVCtechnologies’ management team and believe that with the addition of the talented and innovative Kandy team, the company will continue to thrive and flourish. We expect the combination of the two entities to generate significant growth and value, and we are excited to be a shareholder of the combined company.”
Upon closing, the senior leadership team of Kandy and its personnel, composed of talented business and technology professionals, are expected to join AVCtechnologies.
Under the agreement, AVCtechnologies will issue thirteen million shares of its common stock to Ribbon Communications. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2020 and is subject to standard regulatory review and receipt of the approval of AVCtechnologies’ stockholders, AVCtechnologies’ completion of an equity offering, as well as other customary closing conditions.
Truist Securities, Inc. is serving as sole financial advisor and Greenberg Traurig LLP is serving as legal counsel to AVCtechnologies. Q Advisors is serving as sole financial advisor and Latham & Watkins LLP is serving as legal counsel to Ribbon.
About American Virtual Cloud Technologies, Inc.
AVCtechnologies makes comprehensive and innovative cloud-based UCaaS, Cybersecurity, and IT solutions simple for over 900 enterprise customers, including 350+ managed service clients. Our mission is to be your single destination partner for the white-glove delivery of reliable and secure managed cloud services, hardware, and software. For more information, visit avctechnologies.com.
About Kandy
Kandy, a division of Ribbon, is a cloud-based, real-time communications platform offering proprietary UCaaS, CPaaS, and CCaaS capabilities. Kandy enables service providers, enterprises, software vendors, systems integrators, partners and developers to enrich their applications and services with real-time contextual communications, providing a more engaging user experience. With Kandy, companies of all sizes and types can quickly embed real-time communications capabilities into their existing applications and business processes. For more information visit kandy.io.
About Ribbon
Ribbon Communications, which recently merged with ECI Telecom Group, delivers global communications software and network solutions to service providers, enterprises and critical infrastructure sectors. We engage deeply with our customers, helping them modernize their networks for improved competitive positioning and business outcomes in today’s smart, always-on and data-hungry world. Our innovative, end-to-end solutions portfolio delivers unparalleled scale, performance, and agility, including core to edge IP solutions, leading-edge software security and analytics tools, as well as packet and optical networking leveraging ECI’s Elastic Network technology. To learn more about Ribbon visit rbbn.com. For more information about our Elastic Network technology packet-optical portfolio visit ecitele.com.
Important Information and Where to Find It
A full description of the terms of the transaction will be provided in a proxy statement for the stockholders of AVCtechnologies (the “Proxy Statement”), to be filed with the SEC. AVCtechnologies urges investors, stockholders and other interested persons to read, when available, the preliminary proxy statement as well as other documents filed with the SEC because these documents will contain important information about AVCtechnologies, Kandy and the proposed transaction. The definitive proxy statement will be mailed to stockholders of AVCtechnologies as of a record date to be established for voting on the proposed transaction. Stockholders will also be able to obtain a copy of the definitive proxy statement (when available), without charge, by directing a request to: American Virtual Cloud Technologies, Inc., 1720 Peachtree Street, Suite 629, Atlanta, GA 30309. The preliminary and definitive proxy statement, once available, can also be obtained, without charge, at the SEC’s website (www.sec.gov).
Participants in the Solicitation
AVCtechnologies and its directors and executive officers may be considered participants in the solicitation of proxies by AVCtechnologies in connection with the proposed transaction. Information about the directors and executive officers of AVCtechnologies is set forth in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020, which was filed with the SEC on June 29, 2020, and will be set forth in its proxy statement, which will be filed with the SEC when it becomes available. You may obtain these documents (when they become available, as applicable) free of charge through the sources indicated above.
Non-Solicitation
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.
PRESS / ANALYST CONTACTS
American Virtual Cloud Technologies |
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Thomas King |
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+1 (404) 239-2863 |
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info@avctechnologies.com |
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Ribbon |
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Investor Relations |
APAC, CALA & EMEA Press |
Monica Gould |
Catherine Berthier |
+1 (212) 871-3927 |
+1 (646) 741-1974 |
IR@rbbn.com |
cberthier@rbbn.com |
North American Press |
Analyst Relations |
Dennis Watson |
Michael Cooper |
+1 (214) 695-2224 |
+1 (708) 212-6922 |
dwatson@rbbn.com |
mcooper@rbbn.com |