Fixed Mobile Convergence

Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group has agreed to buy technology and business solutions provider Syniverse Technologies (News - Alert) for $2.6 billion, according to the Dow Jones Newswires.

Syniverse provides, “a full portfolio of mobile roaming, messaging and network products to more than 800 mobile operators, cable and Internet providers, and enterprises in over 160 countries,” according to Dow Jones.

Bloomberg (News - Alert) reports that Carlyle Group, which it describes as, “the world’s second- largest private-equity firm,” is taking Syniverse Holdings (News - Alert) private, “its second telecommunications buyout in as many days.”

Industry observer Margie Manning noted that the Syniverse acquisition is, “the second major acquisition in the telecom industry this week for Carlyle. The private equity firm said on Tuesday it would buy CommScope $3.9 billion, or $31.50 a share.”

Carlyle is offering investors $31 a share in cash, Syniverse said today in a statement. “That’s a 30 percent premium to yesterday’s closing price for the Tampa, Florida-based company,” Bloomberg reported.

"Syniverse is an outstanding business that plays a vital role in the mobile ecosystem globally," said James Attwood, a managing director with Carlyle, according to Dow Jones, which added that Carlyle had $90.9 billion in assets under management across its private equity, real estate and credit alternatives platforms as of June 30.

“Private-equity firms are attracted to the industry because of the “explosive, accelerating usage of mobile Internet devices,” said John Bright (News - Alert), an analyst with Avondale Partners in Nashville cited by Bloomberg, which also noted that “Syniverse reported lower sales and profit in 2009. The company agreed to buy VeriSign’s (News - Alert) messaging business last year to help it tap into the growth in data plan use and texting for wireless carriers.”