Alternative Networks agrees sale to Daisy for £165.3m

21st Nov 2016 12:06

(ShareCast News) - Telecoms software group Alternative Networks has agreed to be bought by Daisy Intermediate Holdings for 335p per share in cash, or about £165.3m.The price is a premium of around 17% to the closing price on 18 November and 20% to the volume-weighted average price of 280p for the six months before that date.Alternative Networks said its directors consider the terms of the acquisition to be fair and reasonable.Daisy, meanwhile, said the deal will build on its recent acquisitions of Damovo and Phoenix IT in the managed services segment and will further broaden and strengthen its mobile and fixed line product and service offerings.In addition, it will increase the group's scale, providing efficiencies for the combined businesses as well as improved cross-selling opportunities.James Murray, chairman of Alternative Networks, said: "Today, Alternative Networks faces rising demand from customers to procure, manage and support the complete chain of enterprise IT and communication solutions."The combination with Daisy will ensure that the company is best placed to capitalise on future growth opportunities and remain the provider of choice for our customers. In particular, the strong complementarity and strategic fit between Daisy and Alternative Networks will ensure our competitiveness and benefit our customers through access to a broader range of unified communications solutions."At 1228 GMT, the shares were up 16.6% to 332.69p.