Shares of Inteliquent Inc. (NASDAQ: IQNT) saw a handy gain early on Thursday after the company reported that it has just agreed to be acquired. Late on Wednesday it was announced that Inteliquent would be acquired by an affiliate of GTCR, a leading private equity firm, and merged with a subsidiary of Onvoy, a fast-growing leader in communications enablement services.
Under the terms of the agreement, Inteliquent stockholders of record will receive $23 in cash per share of common stock, which represents a 37% premium to Inteliquent’s closing stock price on November 1. The value of the transaction is roughly $800 million.
The Inteliquent board of directors unanimously approved the transaction and agreed to recommend that Inteliquent’s stockholders vote to adopt the definitive agreement. However, the transaction is still subject to regulatory approvals as well. It is expected to close in the first half of 2017.
There is also a 30-day “go-shop” period in which Inteliquent may solicit alternative proposals.
Excluding Thursday’s move, Inteliquent has underperformed the broad markets, with the stock less than 6% year to date.
Matt Carter, CEO of Inteliquent, commented:
Over the past several quarters, Inteliquent has been transforming its business to become a leader in the next-generation communications services market. The acquisition of Inteliquent by GTCR and Onvoy validates our Growth Forward strategy. We believe this transaction will deliver immediate, significant and certain cash value to our stockholders while creating a market leading provider.
Lawrence Fey, GTCR’s managing director, added:
We are excited to partner with the Inteliquent and Onvoy management teams to create a leading provider of communications enablement solutions. The combination of Inteliquent and Onvoy is transformational and creates an entity that is well positioned to provide robust next-generation solutions to the communications enablement market.
Shares of Inteliquent closed Wednesday at $16.74, with a consensus analyst price target of $22.67 and a 52-week trading range of $14.56 to $20.99. Following the announcement, the stock was up over 35% at $22.67 in early trading on Thursday, on already more than twice the average daily volume.
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