Ribbon Communications, a global software leader in secure and intelligent cloud communications, announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire, through a merger, ECI Telecom Group for $460 Million.
With this transformational transaction, Ribbon and ECI will create a powerful, leading edge solutions provider with anticipated combined annual revenue of over $900 million. Ribbon expects the combination to position the company for growth and to enhance its competitive strengths by expanding its product portfolio beyond solutions primarily supporting voice applications to include data applications and optical networking.
The combined company expects to realize revenue synergies from the expansion of Ribbon's addressable markets and sales of ECI's products in Ribbon's markets, with an emphasis on North America and Japan. Furthermore, the combined company will be well positioned to serve the high-growth 5G market. The services associated with 5G are expected to drive a substantial increase in network demand and will likely require additional investment in the networking layer, where ECI is already a leading vendor.
Daryl Raiford, CFO, Ribbon
We believe this combination will create new revenue opportunities to drive growth, provide our customers and partners with a broader solutions portfolio, and generate significant long-term value for our stockholders.
Darryl Edwards, President and CEO, ECI
We are excited to join forces with Ribbon, bringing together Ribbon's and ECI's rich portfolios of communications solutions. Both companies enjoy a distinguished operating history and are trusted suppliers to the world's leading telecommunication service providers and enterprises.
