Volubill receives approaches from investors and trade bidders, acquisitions on agenda, CTO says (Mergermarket)
Volubill, a French provider of real-time monitoring, control and charging software to communication providers, could sell within two years and has interest from suitors, CTO Nicolas Bouthors said. He added that it could also look to acquire EUR 3m-valued companies.
“We are a sale candidate; we are already receiving approaches from investors and trade bidders. Major competitors like California-based technology company Cisco, and Swedish telecom giant Ericsson could be interested in buying Volubill,” Bouthors said. “We have a footprint in emerging countries, such as India where we have telecom operator Bharti Airtel as a client.”
“We have received approaches from big IT players, who are interested in our technology. Companies like our business partner IBM and HP - our partner in the Philippines - have showed strong interest in Volubill,as they are dependant on us in these countries. A trade bidder could acquire us before we reach a too competitive size and higher price,” Bouthors said.
Bouthors also noted Volubill’s business partners Alcatel and Nokia, as potential bidders, as they have a complementary activity.
Volubill is currently is backed by venture capital firms Argo Global Capital, Deutsche Venture Capital, Seventure, Sofinnova Partners, Sofinnova Ventures and Xange.
Additionally, the EUR 13m revenue company is open to acquire targets with strong technologies. The CTO said Volubill does not have a systematic acquisition policy, but would consider any EUR 3m priced target. This would be financed both by cash and bank loans. European University IT laboratory spin-offs would be interesting targets, Bouthors explained. .
Volubill is based in Grenoble, France and in Denmark. It also has offices in UK and Malaysia and employs 140. In 2008, Volubill saw an 84% revenue growth and the same level of increase is expected in 2009. Key customers include Orange, Movistar, Mobinil and Ipko Kosovo.
Source: 18/12/2009, Mergermarket.com
