• Serial acquirer Lumine Group is splashing $116m on Synchronoss  
• It had previously acquired Synchronoss’s messaging and network planning units
• Now it will also own the vendor’s white label telco-branded personal cloud services platform

Lumine Group, which buys and nurtures digital communications technology companies, has struck a deal to acquire Synchronoss, a company from which it has already purchased multiple business units, for $9 per share, or $116.4m, in cash. 

The agreement values Synchronoss, which operates white label personal cloud service platforms for telcos such as AT&T, BT and Verizon, at $258.4m once the company’s debt is factored in. The news lit a fire under Synchronoss’s share price, which gained 64% to $8.71 in Thursday trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange. 

Synchronoss has more than 200 petabytes of data stored and “a global footprint of millions of meaningfully engaged subscribers globally,” noted Lumine, adding that Synchronoss will operate under its original brand once the acquisition is completed “to stay aligned with its target markets”. Synchronoss noted in its 2024 annual report that its technology team has “developed technologies that many of the world’s largest telecom operators rely on to safeguard subscribers’ digital lives – protecting photos, videos, files and other irreplaceable memories while enabling digital transformation at scale.”
 

Lumine previously acquired Synchronoss’s messaging and NetworkX (network planning, ordering and expense management) units in November 2023.

Jeff Miller, CEO of Synchronoss, stated: “After three years of collaboration and witnessing firsthand how our former businesses have flourished under Lumine Group’s stewardship, we believe this to be the logical and correct home for our business. For our employees, we believe this will mean more opportunities within a larger organisation at scale, while our customers will gain access to enhanced capabilities through Lumine’s diversified portfolio. Furthermore, we believe once this transaction closes it will serve the best interest for our shareholders as it will deliver immediate, tangible value and position our company for long-term growth, representing a tremendous opportunity for our company to accelerate innovation, expand our market reach, and provide additional resources to drive our growth strategy. Together, we will be positioned to lead the next generation of mobile cloud storage solutions and capture a larger share of this rapidly expanding market.”

David Nyland, CEO of Lumine Group, added: “This acquisition will mark Lumine Group’s first acquisition of a public company and reinforce our mission to protect our customers’ brands and mission-critical solutions with our perpetual ownership. As with every acquisition, once the transaction closes, our first priority will be to enable a seamless transition for both customers and employees as we welcome this business to Lumine Group.”

Synchronoss recently reported third-quarter revenues of $42m, down slightly year on year, and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $12m. For the full year it expects revenues of between $169 and $172m and adjusted EBITDA of $50m to $53m. 

Lumine Group reported a 5% year-on-year increase in third-quarter revenues to $186.7m and a 7% increase in operating profit to $65.1m. 

Among Lumine’s previous acquisitions are Nokia’s device management and service management platform businesses, Datafusion Systems, Casa Systems’ 5G mobile core and radio access network (RAN) assets, Titanium Systems, and many more.  

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV