LR Mobile News Analysis   More LR Mobile News Analysis

Airvana Going Private for $530M

Airvana Inc. (Nasdaq: AIRV) is going private again with a buyout by four private equity companies for $530 million.

The company announced a deal this morning whereby 72 Mobile Holdings LLC -- a new company held by S.A.C. Private Capital Group, LLC, GSO Capital Partners LP, Sankaty Advisors LLC, and ZelnickMedia -- will buy out the company. Some Airvana executives, including CEO Randy Battat, and founders Vedat Eyuboglu and Sanjeev Verma, will exchange a portion of their shares for an equity interest in 72 Mobile Holdings. (See Airvana Agrees $530M Sale.)

Merle Gilmore will be the new company's chairman. Gilmore is the former head of Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT)'s Communications Enterprise; he resigned in 2000. More recently Gilmore has been a director of Revenew Systems and a partner at private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings.

The deal gives Airvana shareholders $7.65 a share. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year.

The company says it will continue working on femtocells and CDMA EV-DO infrastructure software. "You'll get the same great products from the same great team," says CEO Battat.

The company had reported a wider loss of $16.9 million for the third quarter of 2009 due to unpaid monies from major customer Nortel Networks Ltd. Airvana received a payment of $39.6 million on November 13, following the Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) buyout of Nortel's wireless unit. (See Airvana Gets $40M Nortel Payoff.)

Airvana's shares were up over 20 percent, or $1.21, at $7.51 each, in midday trading Friday.

But the deal is already being scrutinized by securities and shareholder litigation firm Levi & Korsinsky LLP, which says:

    The investigation concerns whether the Airvana Board of Directors breached their fiduciary duties to Airvana shareholders given that the offer price is only a small premium over the $7.06 price the Company's shares traded at as recently as September 28, 2009 and at least one analyst set a price target for Airvana stock at $8.50 per share.

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung

Light Reading Mobile Newsletter Ad
Newest Comments First       Display in Chronological Order
Be the first to post a comment regarding this story.
The blogs and comments are the opinions only of the writers and do not reflect the views of Light Reading. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
Related Content
Events
TelcoTV Asia
 Wednesday & Thursday, September 1 & 2, 2010
Shanghai
Green Broadband 2010
 Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Westin Times Square, New York City
Service Provider IT Global Event Series: The 360-Degree Customer Experience
 Tuesday, October 12, 2010
The Cumberland Hotel, London
Ethernet Expo
 Tuesday & Wednesday, November 2 & 3, 2010
Hilton New York, New York
Webinars
Stoke Ad
Most Popular
Read
White Papers SPONSORED CONTENT
Featured
Resource Library SPONSORED CONTENT
Analyst Q&A Webinar: How your billing system can keep up with organizational changes - not yours, but your customer's! - by MetraTech Corp. NEW! Presenters: Dan Baker, Principal Market synthesizer and Co-Founder, Technology Research ...
Evolve Your Network - Simpler, Smarter, Faster - by Alcatel-Lucent NEW! Presenters: Salvador Lopez, Senior Manager, Optical Business Development-Solutions and ...
Chalk Pushcast Software Webcast: Media Rich Training and Compliance Communications on BlackBerry Smartphones - by BlackBerry NEW! Presenters: Jody Glidden, Director, Chalk Media Overview: More and more, workforces are ...
IT Best Practices Webcast: Mobile Policies and Processes for Employee-owned smartphones - by BlackBerry NEW! Presenters: Mark Keating, Director - Platform Marketing, Research In Motion; Maribel Lopez, ...
On-Demand Webinar: Introducing BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express: Mobility for your Business NEW! Presenter: Erin Ransom, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Research In Motion Overview: Learn ...
On-Demand Webinar: BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express for the Small-to-Medium Sized Business NEW! Presenter: Shabbir Lasani, Product Marketing Manager - Small and Medium Business, Research ...
On-Demand Webinar: Deploying BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express NEW! Presenter: Ajay Malhan, Technical Account Manager - IT Channel, Research In ...
Companies
Alcatel-Lucent (6341), AT&T (3213), BellSouth (850), BT (1384), Cablevision (743), Cisco (6427), Comcast (2305), Cox Communications (1005), Deutsche Telekom (874), eBay (Skype) (359), Ericsson (2054), France Telecom (1039), Google (1063), Huawei (1406), Intel (1844), Juniper (2251), Microsoft (1715), Motorola (3126), Nokia Siemens Networks (2834), Nortel (4042), NTT (202), Siemens (1362), Sprint (2127), Telefonica (577), Time Warner Cable (1119), Verizon (3807), Vodafone (1872), Yahoo (353)

4G/LTE (Sponsored by Cisco)
3G Evolution (355), Broadcast (Mobile TV, etc.) (264), Carrier WiFi (2753), CDMA (3G) (3848), China Mobile (77), Core Network (846), EV-DO (290), Femtocells (602), Fixed Wireless (Microwave, etc.) (143), Fourth Generation (4G) Wireless (238), GSM/EDGE (2540), HSDPA/HSUPA (866), IMS Core (130), Long-Term Evolution (LTE) (1381), Messaging (328), Messaging (145), Mobile Advertising (196), Mobile location (114), Mobile Music (162), Mobile TV (323), Mobile Video (356), Mobile WiMax/WiBro (2120), Mobile/Wireless (7082), Municipal networks (111), Packet Core (181), Presence management (47), Radio Access Network (2956), Services (2783), TD-SCDMA (Chinese 3G) (148), Transmission (112), Ultra-Mobile Broadband (UMB) (79), UMTS(3G) (505), Video services (4465), Videophone (202), Vodafone (1872), Voice Core (96), VOIP software (740), WiMax (1214), Wireless Backhaul (584), Wireless LAN (389)

Broadband
Access devices (299), Access equipment (2298), Access technologies (2458), Access test & measurement equipment (133), Broadband loop carriers / multiservice access nodes (422), Cable Modems (820), Carrier WiFi (2753), Content/software downloads (251), Docsis (1301), DSL (2666), DSL chips (247), DSLAMs (711), Ethernet PONs (174), Femtocells (602), Free-space optics (39), FTTx (4058), Home gateways (715), Internet Video (1214), IPTV (3754), Media adapters (29), Microsoft (1715), PON (1586), Satellite (576), Video services (4465), VOD (2992), Yahoo (353)

Cable
Access equipment (2298), Access technologies (2458), Broadcast video equipment (including encoding) (803), Cable modem termination systems (CMTSs) (1208), Cable Modems (820), Cable/MSO equipment (2900), CableLabs (574), Cablevision (743), Comcast (2305), Compression (MPEG-2 and MPEG-4) (315), Cox Communications (1005), Digital content (1376), Digital rights management (410), Docsis (1301), DVRs (833), Embedded multimedia terminal adapters (E-MTAs) (249), FTTx (4058), Gaming consoles (77), Head-ends (269), Home gateways (715), IPTV (3754), Media adapters (29), Middleware & business support systems (1051), Network DVR (130), PacketCable (139), PON (1586), QAM (355), Residential (874), Set-top boxes (1916), Stored video servers (420), Time Warner Cable (1119), TV (4369), Video equipment (2590), Video services (4465), Video software (1487), VOD (2992), VOIP services (3944), Wavelength services (336)

Ethernet
10-Gbit/s Ethernet switches (1487), 100-Gbit/s Ethernet (363), Access devices (299), Ciena (98), Circuit emulation (17), Converged access (129), Ethernet chips (614), Ethernet equipment (2424), Ethernet over copper (249), Ethernet PONs (174), Ethernet services (2089), Ethernet technologies (635), Ethernet test & measurement equipment (192), Multipoint (163), Multiservice edge equipment (152), Multiservice provisioning platforms (630), Multiservice provisioning platforms & add/drop muxes (382), PBT (Provider Backbone Transport) (271), Point-to-point (177), Powerline (93), Resilient Packet Ring (173), Sonet/SDH (1062), Tellabs (31), Wireless Backhaul (584)

IP & Convergence
Activation (440), Anti-virus (38), B-RASs (234), Billing systems (851), Cell/WLAN (85), Centrex (203), Circuit emulation (17), Conferencing (155), Contact centers (38), Content delivery network (CDN) (442), Content/software downloads (251), Converged access (129), Core Network (846), Customer relationship management (365), Data Integrity (162), Denial-of-service attacks (61), Edge routers (1775), Element management systems (106), Encryption (171), Endpoint security (97), Enhanced voice (103), Enterprise (676), Fault management (143), Firewalls (134), Fixed/Mobile Convergence (843), GMPLS (78), IMS (1160), IMS Core (130), Interactive advertising (298), Internet Video (1214), Intrusion detection & prevention (119), Inventory management (233), IP equipment (1326), IP software (417), IPSec VPN (865), Layer 3 VPNs (231), Media gateways (386), Mediation systems (280), Messaging (145), Middleware (139), Mobile/Wireless (7082), MPLS (1827), Multicast (39), OSS (3553), OSS test & measurement (1150), Performance monitoring (461), Planning tools (109), Policy control (386), Presence management (47), Product Management (99), Provisioning (662), Pseudowire (Layer 2 tunnels) (133), QOS (362), Residential (874), Revenue assurance & fraud management (424), Security (1991), Service delivery platforms (SDPs) (384), Service management (331), Service-oriented architectures (345), Services (2783), Session border controllers (424), Signaling gateways (122), SIP (431), Softswitches (1132), SSL VPN (927), Telepresence (242), Traffic managers (861), URL filtering (78), User authentication (96), Video services (4465), Videophone (202), VOIP equipment (3519), VOIP services (3944), VOIP software (740), VOIP test & measurement equipment (149), VOIP VPNs (32), Web services (152), Wholesale (241), Wireless LAN (389), Wireline/Wireless (70), XML (53)

Mobile Backhaul
10-Gbit/s Ethernet switches (1487), 100-Gbit/s Ethernet (363), Access devices (299), Cell/WLAN (85), China Mobile (77), Circuit emulation (17), Converged access (129), Core Network (846), Ethernet equipment (2424), Ethernet over copper (249), Ethernet PONs (174), Ethernet services (2089), Ethernet technologies (635), Fixed Wireless (Microwave, etc.) (143), Fixed/Mobile Convergence (843), Fourth Generation (4G) Wireless (238), IMS (1160), IMS Core (130), Mobile/Wireless (7082), Optical amplifiers (356), Packet Core (181), Point-to-point (177), QOS (362), Speciality fiber (105), Tellabs (31), Transceivers (1314), Transmission (112), Transmission fiber (424), Vodafone (1872), Voice Core (96), Wavelength services (336), WiMax (1214), Wireless Backhaul (584), Wireless LAN (389), Wireline/Wireless (70)

Optical Networking
40-Gbit/s transmission (504), Alcatel-Lucent (6341), ATM switches (334), Core optical switches (777), CWDM (294), DWDM (1882), Ethernet technologies (635), Huawei (1406), Long-haul WDM equipment (731), Metro optical switches, ROADMs (1228), Metro WDM equipment (830), Multiservice edge equipment (152), Multiservice provisioning platforms (630), Multiservice provisioning platforms & add/drop muxes (382), Multiservice switches (400), Mux/demuxes (304), Optical amplifiers (356), Optical channel monitors (96), Optical components (2913), Optical components test & measurement equipment (124), Optical equipment (2425), Optical switches & crossconnects (407), Optical technologies (455), Optical test & measurement equipment (910), PBT (Provider Backbone Transport) (271), PON (1586), Resilient Packet Ring (173), Sonet/SDH (1062), Sonet/SDH chips (365), Sonet/SDH test & measurement equipment (1602), Switches & OADMs (428), Transmission fiber (424), Variable optical attenuators (143), Wavelength services (336)

Service Provider IT
Activation (440), Anti-virus (38), Application servers (208), Billing systems (851), Carrier managed (178), Cloud computing (270), Content/software downloads (251), Customer relationship management (365), Data Integrity (162), Denial-of-service attacks (61), Digital content (1376), Element management systems (106), Encryption (171), Endpoint security (97), Fault management (143), Firewalls (134), Grid networking (94), IMS (1160), IMS Control Layer (41), IMS Service Layer (43), Interactive advertising (298), Intrusion detection & prevention (119), Inventory management (233), IP software (417), IP technologies (1535), IPSec VPN (865), Managed Services (128), Media gateways (386), Mediation systems (280), Messaging (328), Middleware (139), MPLS (1827), MPLS (698), OSS (3553), OSS test & measurement (1150), Performance monitoring (461), Planning tools (109), Policy control (386), Product Management (99), Provisioning (662), QOS (362), Revenue assurance & fraud management (424), Security (1991), Service delivery platforms (SDPs) (384), Service management (331), Service-oriented architectures (345), Services (2783), SSL VPN (927), Telepresence (242), URL filtering (78), User authentication (96), Vendor managed (124), Web gateways (71), Web services (152), XML (53)

Video (Sponsored by Cisco)
Broadcast (Mobile TV, etc.) (264), Broadcast video equipment (including encoding) (803), Cable TV chips (339), Compression (MPEG-2 and MPEG-4) (315), Content protection (393), Digital rights management (410), DVRs (833), Gaming consoles (77), Internet Video (1214), IPTV (3754), Middleware & business support systems (1051), Mobile TV (323), Network DVR (130), P2P (276), Satellite (576), Set-top boxes (1916), Stored video servers (420), Telepresence (242), TV (4369), Video equipment (2590), Video services (4465), Video software (1487), Videophone (202), VOD (2992)

Enabling People and Organizations to Harness the Transformative Power of Technology