Polycom, an American multinational helping organisations achieve new levels of teamwork, efficiency and productivity by unleashing the power of human collaboration, announced the completion of its acquisition by affiliates of Siris Capital Group, LLC (“Siris” or “Siris Capital”) in a transaction reflecting an equity value of approximately $2.0 billion in cash. Polycom’s stock will cease trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol PLCM, effective today.
“We are excited to be a part of Polycom’s next chapter as we jointly work to create sustainable, long-term value for customers and partners,” said Daniel Moloney, Executive Partner, Siris Capital. “Together, with Mary and her team, we will enhance Polycom’s strategy to lead the market in audio, video and content collaboration solutions and continue to provide customers with the same high level of commitment, focus, innovation and support.”
Ms. McDowell, who succeeds Peter Leav as CEO and board member, is a technology executive who has led global multi-billion dollar businesses in the mobile, consumer and enterprise sectors. Prior to joining Polycom, Ms. McDowell was an Executive Partner at Siris Capital and was formerly the EVP, Mobile Phones at Nokia, where she held global P&L responsibility for the feature phone business and associated software and digital services. She joined Nokia in 2004 to lead the Enterprise Solutions business and later served as Chief Development Officer. Ms. McDowell has also held senior positions at Compaq Computer and Hewlett Packard. She serves on the boards of Autodesk, Inc., Bazaarvoice and UBM plc.
“This is a momentous day for Polycom,” said Ms. McDowell. “I’m honoured and excited to be a part of the Polycom team and to work to accelerate our ability to provide customers with easy-to-use, innovative experiences that help them achieve new levels of teamwork, efficiency and productivity. As an independent private company, we will build on Polycom’s market leading position and make strategic, innovative moves to proactively address changing market dynamics and customer needs.”
In connection with the closing of the transaction, the company, which will continue to operate as Polycom, Inc., will be wholly owned by affiliates of Siris Capital.