Tata Communications, an Indian digital ecosystem provider, has agreed to acquire New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) listed Kaleyra, in a cash-only transaction valued at approximately $100 million.

Shareholders of Kaleyra will be offered $7.25 per share in cash by Tata Communications as per the terms of the deal.

The agreement includes the assumption of all outstanding debt and has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies.

Kaleyra, a worldwide omnichannel integrated communication services provider, has a suite of proprietary platforms that offer targeted personalisation through messaging, video, push notifications, e-mail, voice-based services, and chatbots.

Dario Calogero — Kaleyra Founder and CEO 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.

“This is a great day for Kaleyra and our shareholders, and our employees worldwide.”

The acquisition aims to empower global enterprises to offer personalised experiences to their customers.

With Kaleyra’s acquisition, Tata Communications stands to gain a robust, industry-proven platform with strong capabilities and extensive scale. Kaleyra brings to the table a dominant presence in the business communications market across banking, financial services, retail, and digital commerce industries globally.

In addition, Kaleyra’s Tier 1 carrier connections in the US, ready connectors to third-party platforms, and video services without the need for additional software plugins, are all set to be advantageous to Tata Communications.

Tata Communications, which already has a large base of enterprise customers worldwide, including 300 of the Fortune 500 companies and extensive mobile network operator connections, is poised to leverage the global expansion opportunities this acquisition provides.

The combined businesses will benefit from the global digital ecosystem enabler, which powers the rapidly expanding digital economy in more than 190 countries and territories.

AS Lakshminarayanan — Tata Communications MD and CEO said: “With this investment in Kaleyra, we will accelerate our push into the customer interactions platform market and fortify our global CommTech position.

“We are excited about Kaleyra’s remarkable talent and their demonstrated capabilities in next-gen technologies.  With this acquisition, we will further build intelligent, intuitive and innovative multi-channel communication solutions to unlock new growth opportunities for our customers.”

The closing of the transaction, subject to Kaleyra’s stockholders’ approval, certain regulatory approvals, and other customary closing conditions, is expected to occur in six to nine months. Upon closure, Kaleyra will operate as a subsidiary of Tata Communications Limited.

  AS Lakshminarayanan, Dario Calogero, Kaleyra, Simone Fubini, Tata Communications, USA