Call-Center Software Providers Genesys, Interactive Intelligence to Merge
August 31 2016 - 8:50AM
Dow Jones News
Call-center software company Genesys said it agreed to buy rival
firm Interactive Intelligence Group Inc. for roughly $1.4 billion,
as it seeks to bulk up amid a changing consumer landscape.
Under the terms of the agreement, Genesys will pay $60.50 a
share in cash for Interactive Intelligence, a roughly 7% premium to
Tuesday's closing price and a 36% premium to the stock's closing
price on July 28, the day before Reuters reported that Interactive
was considering strategic alternatives.
Interactive Intelligence shares rose 5.3% to $59.66 in premarket
trading.
Customers seeking to resolve a problem or learn about products
and services have increasingly turned to websites, online
messaging, chats and other relatively new methods of communicating
with a business. Genesys software helps orchestrate digital and
voice interactions for customers including AT&T Inc. and
Citigroup Inc.
Private-equity firm KKR & Co. said Tuesday that it would buy
Minneapolis-based call-center software maker Calabrio, which makes
software meant to improve call-center interactions, analyzing the
sentiment or tone of a caller or directing calls to the right
attendant to help a customer. Terms of the deal weren't
disclosed.
The Genesys transaction is expected to close by the end of the
year, subject to regulatory approval and a vote by Interactive
Intelligence shareholders. Don Brown, chairman and chief executive
of Interactive Intelligence who owns about 17% of the company's
stock, has agreed to vote his shares in favor of the deal.
Write to Joshua Jamerson at joshua.jamerson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 31, 2016 09:35 ET (13:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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