Proximus Group to buy 57.66% stake in Route Mobile for Rs 5,922 crore

Proximus Group has signed a definitive agreement to acquire through Proximus Opal, a ~58% interest in Route Mobile. As a part of the agreement, some of the founding shareholders of Route Mobile will reinvest in a minority stake in Proximus Opal, a subsidiary of the Proximus Group and the holding company of Telesign, Proximus’ US-based affiliate. Building on the combined strengths of Route Mobile and Telesign, the Group is paving the way to become one of the worldwide leaders in the fields of digital communications (CPaaS) and digital identity (DI). 

Shares of Route Mobile were down 8% yesterday post announcement. Today, in the early morning trade the stock was up 1.65 percent at Rs 1512.6 on the NSE. 

The strategic acquisition of Route Mobile generates substantial scale, with an annual revenue around EUR 900 million for Route Mobile and Telesign combined. 

In the filing on Monday the company said that the deal is expected to generate substantial value thanks to the enriching corporate culture, as well as the high complementarity of Route Mobile and Telesign – both in terms of product offerings and geographic coverage. Annual run-rate EBITDA synergies realized 3 years post-closing are expected to be at least EUR 90 million, which will be realized by both Route Mobile and Telesign. 

According to the firm, the Proximus Group’s acquisition of the majority shareholding in Route Mobile will result in a mandatory takeover offer for 26% of the company’s outstanding shares at the same price of Rs 1,626.40. 

The deal is anticipated to finalise within six to nine months. Rajdip Gupta, CEO of Route Mobile said, “The partnership with Telesign paves the way for Route Mobile to become one of the global CPaaS leaders and achieve a billion-dollar annual revenue run-rate much sooner than the anticipated 3-4 years’ timeframe. Route Mobile, with its strong CPaaS omnichannel product offerings and deep entrenchment in emerging markets coupled with Telesign’s strong presence in developed markets and a very robust digital identity stack, complement each other immensely to create a very strong value proposition for the Proximus Group and its stakeholders.”

Source: Media Reports