Amdocs to acquire Bridgewater for $214m

The Canadian company provides subscriber management and network control solutions for mobile and convergent service providers.

19 June 11 08:54, Hillel Koren

Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX) has signed an agreement to acquire Canadian company Bridgewater Systems (TSX: BWC) for C$211 million ($214 million). Amdocs, managed by CEO Eli Gelman, will pay C$8.20 per share, a 30% premium over Bridgewater's closing price Thursday on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and the deal is due to be closed within 90 days. The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved the transaction.

Bridgewater provides policy, subscriber management and network control solutions for mobile and convergent service providers. With the acquisition, Amdocs plans to expand its Customer Experience Systems (CES) portfolio with more sophisticated data experience management capabilities.

The aim of the acquisition is to enable service providers to support virtually any pricing strategy for data services, based on the combination of advanced customer models together with network level information.

Amdocs group president Brian Shepherd said, "This acquisition would build on Amdocs' leadership in delivering innovative solutions that change market paradigms. It is a continuation of our strategy to support service providers as they seek to transform their businesses in anticipation of new market opportunities like 4G and machine-to-machine, and in response to clear threats, such as the data explosion."

Bridgewater president and CEO Ed Ogonek said, "As the market leader in customer experience systems, Amdocs has an excellent reputation for delivering tangible value to service providers worldwide. The combination of Bridgewater's policy and subscriber data management portfolio with Amdocs CES portfolio will create a unique offering that would further extend Amdocs industry leadership, and deliver innovative solutions for service providers as they seek to transform their networks, improve customer loyalty and monetize their data services."

Amdocs does not expect a material impact from the acquisition of Bridgewater, if completed, on fiscal year 2011 or fiscal year 2012 non-GAAP earnings per share.

After the announcement of the acquisition on Friday, Amdocs share price fell 1.85% on the New York Stock Exchange to $28.67, giving a market cap of $5.32 billion. In after-hours trading the share rose 0.45% to $28.80.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 19, 2011

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