Cloud communications company Twilio said it will become a minority owner of Syniverse, which provides roaming and settlement services for mobile network operators, with a $750 million investment into the company.

March 1, 2021

3 Min Read

TAMPA, Florida – Syniverse, the world's most connected company, and Twilio, the leading cloud communications platform, today announced that they have entered into a partnership to accelerate the next wave of innovation in mobile communications and drive long-term growth. Additionally, the companies have signed a definitive agreement for Twilio to invest up to $750 million cash in Syniverse and become a significant minority owner of the Company. The Carlyle Group, Syniverse's current majority owner, will maintain its majority interest in Syniverse.

Through this partnership, Syniverse will benefit from Twilio's breadth of experience serving Enterprise customers to capitalize on the next wave of growth in mobile communications. Syniverse will be even better positioned to serve its core Carrier customers and support continued innovation, customer service and long-term growth. Syniverse and Twilio will enter into a wholesale agreement whereby Syniverse will process, route and deliver application-to-person (A2P) messages originating and/or terminating between Twilio's customers and mobile network operators.

James Attwood, Executive Chairman of Syniverse said, "We are thrilled to enter into this partnership with Twilio, which we believe will accelerate our next phase of growth as the world's most connected company. The partnership will provide Syniverse access to Twilio's extensive enterprise and API services expertise, creating opportunities to continue to build on Syniverse's highly innovative product portfolio that helps mobile network operators and enterprises make communications better for their customers."

"Twilio's vision is to build the world's leading customer engagement platform. As messaging becomes a preferred way for consumers to communicate with brands, Syniverse helps remove the complexity of the interconnected telecommunications ecosystem, so Twilio can provide best-in-class messaging services to its customers globally," said Chee Chew, Chief Product Officer at Twilio. "We have long been a Syniverse customer and are pleased to expand our relationship to provide reliable, scalable and rich two-way messaging for businesses and their customers."

Syniverse has been a trusted entity and innovator in communications infrastructure for over 30 years, providing secure networking and connectivity solutions to mobile network operators and enterprises around the world. The Company is one of the largest private IP Packet Exchange (IPX) providers in the world and offers a range of networking solutions, excelling in scenarios where seamless connections must cross over networks – either across multiple private networks or between public and private networks.

Twilio's customer engagement platform provides next-generation communications services for channels like voice, text, chat, video, and email to over 220,000 customer accounts globally. Twilio enables software developers and companies to programmatically make and receive phone calls, send and receive text messages, and perform other communication functions using its web service application programming interfaces (APIs).

Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, Syniverse and Twilio will together pursue additional potential financing transactions that may be in the form of a public market transaction or an additional equity investment. The proceeds of these additional financing transactions, together with the investment by Twilio, will be used primarily to pay down debt and to pay transaction fees and expenses.

The transaction is expected to close before the end of 2021, subject to the concurrent consummation and final terms of the additional financing transactions.

Moelis & Company LLC served as financial advisor to Syniverse and The Carlyle Group and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP served as legal counsel. Centerview Partners LLC served as financial advisor to Twilio and Kirkland & Ellis LLP and DLA Piper LLP acted as legal advisors.

Syniverse

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