Verint to Regain Company Control

New York-based speech and text analytics specialist Verint - which owns survey management software firm Vovici - is to acquire its holding firm Comverse Technology Inc (CTI), thus eliminating CTI's majority ownership of the company.

In 2006, CTI was involved in a scandal in which CEO Jacob Alexander and two senior execs were charged with multiple counts of conspiracy, fraud, money laundering and making false filings. As a result, CTI was delisted from the Nasdaq and spent several years attempting to reinstate its financial reports. At the time, the firm also made a series of large-scale redundancies and sold part of its holdings in Verint for $80m.

CTI currently holds 41% of Verint's common shares, plus outstanding convertible preferred shares which add another 12.7%.

Verint CEO and President Dan Bodner (pictured) comments: 'We look forward to becoming a non-controlled and independent public company. Clarifying our ownership structure is a significant positive for Verint as we continue to focus on increasing shareholder value.'

Under the terms of the agreement, Verint will issue around 27.5 million shares (an amount equal to CTI's ownership), plus an additional $25m in Verint stock. According to reports, the transaction is valued at at least $780.7m.

Analysts say the acquisition will provide a 'cleaner' corporate culture for Verint, which is still seen in some quarters to be tainted by the CTI scandal.

Web site: www.verint.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.