Redknee makes a splash with Nokia Siemens Networks acquisition

Mississauga’s Redknee, sometimes the subject of takeover rumours itself, this morning announced a surprising M&A move of its own. The company will acquire Nokia Siemens Networks’ Business Support Systems business. Mississauga’s Redknee (TSX:RKN), sometimes the subject of takeover rumours itself, this morning announced a surprising M&A move of its own. The company will acquire Nokia Siemens Networks’ Business Support Systems business.

The acquisition will cost Redknee 15 million euros in cash plus a maximum of 25 million euros for performance-based cash earn-outs, which are expected to be paid a year to three years after closing.

Nokia Siemens Networks will transfer supplier contracts, intellectual property rights, fixed assets and associated liabilities and employees, which are are mainly based in Berlin, Germany, Bangalore, India and Wroclaw, Poland.

Redknee CEO Lucas Skoczkowski said the move will help leverage the company’s growth into the future: “This planned acquisition marks a significant milestone in Redknee’s long-term growth strategy,” he said. “It would add strong long-standing relationships with new Tier 1 operators and expand Redknee’s market share and presence in high growth markets. Our expanded team would drive the continued success of our customers, as we strive to be the provider of choice for real-time converged billing, customer care, policy, and payment solutions in the communications industry.”

Founded in the solarium of Skoczkowski’s apartment in 1999, Mississauga-based Redknee now boasts clients such as Microsoft and Cisco. The company’s billing solutions run the gamut from the customer side to helping service providers better monitor, understand and monetize their subscriber base. Redknee’s real-time converged billing solution has been benchmarked to support a quarter of a billion subscribers.

Management says the acquisition should be finalized withing the first half of next year. Shares of Redknee closed yesterday up 1.5% to $1.39.

9AM PST UPDATE: Shares of Redknee are now up nearly 26%, $1.75.

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