Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights
- Over the Wire (OTW) is set to acquire J2 Global’s Australian and New Zealand voice businesses, J2 Australia Cloud Connect and Zintel Communications
- Over the Wire will pay $36 million and will fund this from its cash reserves and a debt facility with Westpac
- The acquisition will expand the company’s capabilities and give it access to an extensive customer base of over 9000 businesses
- The Acquired Business is expected to contribute around $19 million in revenue and an EBITDA of $6 million on an annualised basis
- Company shares closed 7.94 per cent in the green at $4.08
Over the Wire Holdings (OTW) has entered a binding agreement to acquire J2 Global Inc’s Australian and New Zealand voice businesses.
Specifically, Over the Wire will acquire all shares in J2 Australia Cloud Connect and New Zealand-based Zintel Communications – collectively known as the “Acquired Business”.
The Acquired Business is a lead platform provider of 13, 1300 and 1800 inbound telecommunication services. It provides these services to over 9000 business customers of various sizes.
The Acquired Business has over 80 employees across Auckland, Sydney and Brisbane, and includes telephony brands, Fonebox and Zintel.
The total payable consideration is based on an enterprise value of $36 million. Over the Wire will utilise its cash reserves as well as a debt facility with Westpac.
The acquisition expands the company’s capabilities by adding call routing intelligence, data intelligence, call management and analytics reporting through a proprietary technology platform.
It also opens Over the Wire to an extensive customer base that offers cross-sell opportunities, particularly in outbound voice and hosted telephony services.
“This acquisition expedites our geographic expansion plans in New Zealand, as well as extending our inbound voice capability and gives us a stronger foundation for providing a broad range of voice services to our existing customers and the Australian and New Zealand business markets,” Managing Director Michael Omeros said.
The Acquired Business also has a capable team that will deliver an overall voice offering to Australian and New Zealand small-to-medium enterprises, when combined with Over the Wire’s subsidiary, Fakortel.
Finally, the Acquired Business is expected to contribute around $19 million in revenue and $6 million earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) on an annualised basis.
Company shares closed 7.94 per cent in the green at $4.08 each.
