r
r
r
September 25, 2001 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — VeriSign, Inc. (verisign.com), a leading provider of
r
digital trust services, last night announced a definitive agreement to
r
acquire publicly traded Illuminet Holdings, Inc. (illuminet.com) of Olympia,
r
Washington. Illuminet is a leading provider of intelligent network and
r
signaling services to communications carriers.
r
r
Illuminet’s business will expand VeriSign’s digital trust services
r
portfolio, which includes Web identity, authentication and payment services.
r
These services are supported by an infrastructure relied upon to conduct
r
over five billion domain name system look-ups, 100 million database queries,
r
and millions of secure commerce and communications transactions.
r
r
“Through this combination, service providers and enterprises will have the
r
opportunity to use VeriSign’s highly scalable data and voice infrastructure
r
to deliver new services and to improve the speed and efficiency of their
r
current offerings,” said Stratton Sclavos, president and CEO of VeriSign.
r
“Just as we created a trusted digital environment with our Internet-based
r
services, this new integrated data-voice infrastructure will serve as the
r
foundation for new types of services for the highly anticipated
r
next-generation networks.”
r
r
VeriSign will use its global infrastructure to accelerate the introduction
r
of new services for Illuminet’s customers, such as secure short messaging,
r
local number portability and Voice Over IP bridging. Illuminet will also
r
enable VeriSign to deliver data-voice offerings such as WebNum, a navigation
r
service that enables wireless phones to link specific numbers directly to
r
Internet domain names; services using ENUM, which combines phone numbers and
r
domain names to create one contact point for businesses and individuals; and
r
a Global Voice Registry service, which enables callers to reach a business
r
simply by speaking the company’s name.
r
r
Under the terms of the agreement, VeriSign will exchange 0.93 shares or
r
options of VeriSign common stock for each outstanding share and option of
r
Illuminet and will assume Illuminet’s outstanding employee stock options.
r
This will result in VeriSign issuing approximately 30.4 million shares for
r
all issued and outstanding shares (including stock options) of Illuminet.
r
r
Based on VeriSign’s closing stock price of $38.30 per share on Sept. 21,
r
2001, this exchange ratio values the transaction at approximately $1.2
r
billion. This acquisition will be accounted for as a purchase transaction
r
and is expected to be completed late in the fourth quarter of 2001 or early
r
in the first quarter of 2002. The acquisition has been approved by the board
r
of directors of each company and is subject to various closing conditions,
r
including government approvals and consent by the stockholders of Illuminet.
r
r
Illuminet supports telecommunications networks used to make wireless calls,
r
long-distance calls and Internet connections by ensuring that carriers can
r
connect to each other and also enabling advanced calling features such as
r
caller identification and local number portability.
r
r
In the second quarter of 2001, Illuminet reported revenues of $47.2 million.
r
It has approximately 500 employees. It is based in Olympia, Washington and
r
also has a significant presence in Overland Park, Kansas and in Dallas,
r
Texas. Operations will continue in those areas.
About theWHIR.com
Since 2000, The Web Host Industry Review has made a name for itself as the foremost authority of the Web hosting industry providing reliable, insightful and comprehensive news, interviews and resources to the hosting community. TheWHIR is an iNET Interactive property. For more information on iNET Interactive, visit http://www.inetinteractive.com
No related posts.
