Mitel to acquire comms and collaboration from Atos

Mitel has entered exclusive negotiations with Atos to acquire Unify, the Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) and Communication and Collaboration Services businesses (CCS) of the Atos group. The proposed transaction is subject to the consultation of the relevant employee representative bodies and other customary regulatory approvals, with closing expected in H2 2023.

Together, Mitel and Unify would be a prominent UC leader in the Americas and Europe, with a collective customer base of more than 75M users in over 100 countries and a channel community of more than 5,500 global partners. The proposed transaction would also notably expand Mitel’s reach and organizational scale, and lead to increased global revenues and profitability.

Tarun Loomba, president and chief executive officer of Mitel, would serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of the combined company. Additional members of the management team would be selected from both companies during the closing period.

“The UC industry today holds significant opportunities to grow through M&A, aligning well with Mitel’s strategy and expertise,” said Mitel president and CEO Tarun Loomba. “The addition of Unify’s portfolio, partners and talent would significantly expand Mitel’s scale and offerings, enabling us together to offer customers even greater choice and flexibility throughout the lifecycle of their business communications.”

“Unify and Mitel both have a deep heritage in the communications market centered around customer needs and a channel-driven go-to-market strategy,” said Marcus Hänsel, chief executive officer of Unify at Atos. “Mitel’s commitment to UC, heritage of success, and experience integrating complementary global businesses gives us great confidence in our future together.”

Cements Mitel’s commitment to the UC market with an expanded portfolio and immediate opportunities for growth with enterprise customers

The proposed transaction accelerates Mitel’s ability to strategically address the evolving communication needs of global businesses with an even broader range of on-premises, hybrid, private cloud, and soon, enterprise managed services. According to industry analysts, UC will continue to be the deployment model of choice for many companies for the foreseeable future and this transaction will better position Mitel to meet this demand.

“Demand for UC globally is massive and full of potential,” said Zeus Kerravala, Founder and Principal Analyst, ZK Research. “This announcement makes that even more interesting by putting the combined Mitel-Unify organization in a compelling position to capitalize on the market opportunity that lies ahead. The complementary strengths of Mitel’s mid-market expertise and Unify’s successful enterprise Managed Services business will make Mitel a highly competitive option for mid-to-enterprise organizations.”

With the proposed transaction, Mitel would acquire Unify’s voice platforms, collaboration and contact center products, device and endpoint portfolio, and related intellectual property. Unify would also bring a Managed Services business with a proven track record of helping enterprise organizations digitally transform their communications environment, an addition that would further strengthen Mitel’s ability to deliver choice for UC customers. Together, Mitel and Unify would also be well-positioned to address the needs of customers in core verticals such healthcare, public sector, hospitality, and financial services with complementary vertical experience, integrations, and products.  

Two industry leaders joining forces drives significant value for all stakeholders

The combined company would have the operational scale, portfolio, geographic reach, go-to-market resources, and financial profile to modernize the UC experience for customers faster and more effectively than either company could do alone.

Mitel and Unify share a common, channel-driven go-to-market approach that is well-suited to fuelling success for channel partners. Partners would have a broader portfolio of products and services with which to ensure customers have the flexibility to choose the communications model they prefer, as well as more global resources to support the overall partner experience.

“The value this deal creates for customers, partners, investors, and employees is exciting,” said Loomba. “Mitel and Unify’s channel partner communities represent a wealth of expertise available to guide customers forward as they aim to communicate and collaborate more effectively, particularly in this new world of hybrid work. Together, our portfolios and channel community would empower customers anywhere to leverage communications in ways that best support their needs and help them thrive.”