Avaya shareholders back private equity proposal

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 02 October 2007 08:15

IT Industry - Listed Tech

Avaya shareholders have voted to accept the company's acquisition by private equity firms Silver Lake Partners and TPG.

All regulatory approvals have also been obtained, so the takeover of the IP telephony and unified communications company should be completed by the end of October 2007.

The agreement values Avaya at $US8.2 billion. Shareholders will be paid $US17.50 cash per share.

Avaya shares closed at $US16.99 on Monday, and fell to $16.96 in after-hours trading.

Other companies in Silver Lake's portfolio include Avago (formed from Agilent's semiconductor division), industry analyst firm Gartner, Network General (McAfee's former Sniffer business), drive manufacturer Seagate, and media and entertainment technology company Thomson.

TPG is also an investor in Seagate.

In other news, Silver Lake Partners and ValueAct Capital Partners have dropped their bid for customer and information management specialist Acxiom.