Mobile Messaging Consolidates: Myriad Group Buys Synchronica For $38M

Some consolidation afoot in the evolving world of mobile messaging: one messaging provider, Switzerland's Myriad Group, is buying a UK-based rival, Synchronica, for ?23.9 million (around $38 million), in what looks like an all-share deal. Myriad says the deal will make it one of the biggest providers of messaging services in the world. Together they provide messaging services to a huge range of tier-one carriers including ATT, Verizon, Vodafone, Telef?nica, Orange, T-Mobile, Am?rica M?vil, NTT Docomo, MTS, Softbank, Megafon, Telcel, TIM, Airtel and Claro -- altogether covering some 2.5 billion subscribers and 100 carriers and 25 OEMs worldwide. The two companies have been in negotiations since last November, and in February 2012, Myriad argued to Synchronica shareholders that they needed to sell in part because Synchronica could not meet its repayment obligations to Nokia. Synchronica last year picked up Nokia's messaging business for $25 million as the struggling handset maker was offloading less profitable assets.

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