Over the past couple of years, Inter-Tel's
This week, he announced his intent to buy the company for $22.50 per share (or $600 million), in partnership with private equity fund Vector Capital. The stock jumped 8.64% on the news, to $21.76.
Inter-Tel offers a broad slate of telecom products and services targeted at midsized businesses. Its specialties include audio, video, and Web conferencing; local and long-distance calling services; voice and data network design; and traffic provisioning. The company faces plenty of stiff competition from biggies like Avaya
Yet over the years, Inter-Tel has established a stable customer base. In the process, the company has built up a strong infrastructure of 60 company-owned direct sales offices, along with a network of hundreds of authorized dealers and value-added resellers in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, and Australia.
Just as importantly, Inter-Tel has $176.3 million in the bank. Given the company's war chest, it's no surprise that Mihaylo was able to get commitments for $300 million in debt financing.
Might there be another offer from a third party? Chances are slim. Within the past month, Mihaylo negotiated with Inter-Tel to get himself and two others on the board. What's more, Mihaylo still owns 19% of Inter-Tel. Another buyer would likely need to pay a hefty price to convince Mihaylo to sell out.
Mihaylo has executed a clever strategy in his efforts to reclaim his company. Now, just a few months after leaving Inter-Tel, it now looks like he'll once again own the whole thing.
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Fool contributor Tom Taulli does not own shares of any companies mentioned in this article.