Infobip Acquires American Peerless Network and Records New Financing of 500 Million US Dollars

Vodnjan-based Infobip, a global cloud communication platform and leading IT company in the region, has entered into a purchase agreement to acquire the American company Peerless Network, a global provider of VoIP (Voice over IP) services based in Chicago. The completion of the transaction is expected next year after receiving the usual regulatory approvals. The value of the acquisition is confidential, and the payment was made through a combination of cash and Infobip shares. The management of Peerless Network will also invest parts of their ownership stakes in Peerless Network into Infobip.

With this acquisition, Infobip secures a significant presence in the internet voice communication segment in the United States market, while clients of Peerless Network will have access to a wide range of Infobip’s CPaaS products.

Founded in 2008, Peerless Network, with its own voice network, is a reliable choice for a number of Fortune 500 companies. For over a decade, the company has provided the most agile, cost-effective, and easiest-to-implement voice solutions, along with top-notch customer service to meet the work-from-anywhere needs of businesses. Peerless covers 93 percent of the population in the U.S., has over 4,500 interconnections in 49 states, with traffic of nine billion monthly minutes across more than 200 markets.

Infobip’s new acquisition continues its current investments and the previous acquisition of the American company OpenMarket at the end of last year for approximately 300 million US dollars. Infobip recorded a revenue growth of 55 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, due to continuous organic growth and the contribution from the OpenMarket acquisition. The Vodnjan IT company also acquired the Croatian Shift franchise this year, as well as the leading global SMS firewall service provider, Irish Anam Technologies.

Last month, Infobip secured credit financing of 500 million US dollars. The financial advisor in the transaction was Morgan Stanley, and the main investors include credit funds managed by Ares Management Corporation and funds managed by BlackRock. The new financing places Infobip in an exclusive group of renowned high-growth and high-value technology companies that have utilized a similar form of financing. This is Infobip’s second round of external financing, following a significant strategic investment from One Equity Partners (OEP) totaling 300 million euros in the second half of last year.

– By acquiring Peerless Network, we are accelerating our international strategy by several years. This is a very positive thing for Infobip from a financial, strategic, and operational perspective. It enables us to achieve even stronger business growth in the United States, which aligns with Peerless Network’s strategy. Peerless will significantly enhance the voice offering of Infobip’s CPaaS portfolio, and our current and future users will have access to the most comprehensive and complete package of SaaS-enabled CPaaS software solutions available on the market – stated Silvio Kutić, CEO and co-owner of Infobip.

– Together, we will offer our services to companies and people around the world through a truly global network supported by local teams. Of course, the goal is to provide the best customer experience in the market. An exciting period lies ahead, and great things are just beginning to happen for Infobip – added Kutić.

The combined complementary solutions of both companies will be able to handle more than 30 billion monthly customer interactions across the entire spectrum of communication channels, in over 190 countries worldwide.

– We are very excited about all the opportunities that the combination of Infobip and Peerless brings. It allows us to scale our services, capabilities, and offerings to customers. By combining our market-leading voice offering with Infobip’s global messaging capabilities, we are creating a strong foundation to position ourselves as leaders in the rapidly growing cloud communications market. This acquisition will, among other things, enable Peerless Network to provide comprehensive support to its customers with business needs beyond the borders of the U.S. – stated Jahn Barnicle, CEO of Peerless Network.

Founded only a few years apart in the mid-2000s, both companies have achieved rapid growth and are innovative in their market approaches based on a culture where employees and the company share similar values, with employee engagement at all levels being a key determinant.

In the acquisition process, Infobip received tax and financial support from Ernst & Young (EY). The legal advisor to the Vodnjan IT company was Latham & Watkins LLP, and the financial advisor was Regions Securities. The financial advisor to Peerless Network was Moelis & Company LLC, and the legal advisor was DLA Piper.

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