Mitel to consolidate business comms market with $2 billion Polycom acquisition

Canadian business comms company Mitel is set to continue its recent expansion with the $1.96 billion acquisition of US video conferencing outfit Polycom.

The move comes a year after Mitel snapped up unified communications company Mavenir to boost its IP comms offering. Adding Polycom to the mix will give Mitel further ammunition to take on the likes of Cisco in the IP telephony and business collaboration markets.

“Polycom is one of the most respected brands in the world and is synonymous with the high quality and innovative conference and video capabilities that are now the norm of everyday collaboration,” said Mitel CEO Rich McBee. “Together with industry-leading voice communications from Mitel, the combined company will have the talent and technology needed to truly deliver integrated solutions to businesses and service providers across enterprise, mobile and cloud environments.”

The combined company will have revenues in the region of $2.5 billion and a headcount of around 7,700. The purchase price is at a 22% premium on the current Polycom share price and the Polycom brand will be retained. Mitel claims the combined company will be the leader in business cloud communications, conference phones, Open SIP sets and IP/PBX extensions in Europe. The deal is expected to close in Q3 2016.