Kaleyra spa, an Italian group specialized in the global supply of mobile messaging services for banks and companies of all sizes, was listed on the NYSE yesterday, following the business combination with GigCapital, a US Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) specialized in the Technology, Media and Telecom sector , already listed on Wall Street (see the press release here).
The stock (ticker:KLR) opened at $ 11.35 per share. The new company will still be led by Dario Calogero, founder of Kaleyra, and will be chaired by Avi Katz, chairman of GigCapital. In the transaction, GigCapital was advised by financial advisors Cowen and Company and Nomura Securities International, while Crowell & Moring was the legal advisor. Kaleyra was supported by the financial advisor Northland Capital Markets and by Chiomenti as legal advisor.
The business combination between the two companies was announced last February (see here a previous post by BeBeez) and approved last Friday November 22nd by 98.1% of the shareholders of the Spac. For the purposes of the business combination, the company was valued at 192 million dollars, or 1.5x the expected revenues for 2019. Following the transaction, the current shareholders of Kaleyra hold a 33% stake, while the rest of the capital refers to the current shareholders of GigCapital. The Spac, promoted by GigAcquisitions and Cowen Investments, was listed on the NYSE in October 2017 after raising 150 million dollars from investors (see the SEC file here).
Dario Calogero, founder and ceo of Kaleyra, commented: “Today we enter the market of listed companies, which will provide the means to further expand and accelerate our growth plans for our integrated mobile communication platform. I am confident or I have plans to continue to develop advanced products and expand the market, both organically and through consolidation. To support these plans, we will expand to commercial and marketing levels, particularly in the large North American market “.
Avi Katz, founder and executive chairman of the board of directors of the GigCapital Group, added: “As a listed company, Kaleyra will have a stronger capital structure and greater latitude to excel and achieve its expected accelerated financial growth with organic and strategic means I strongly believe that the combination of Kaleyra and GigCapital, using our Private-to-Public Equity (PPE) methodology, brings unique, attractive and promising opportunities to all shareholders, both through accelerated global expansion and penetration of the financial and banking sectors “.
Kaleyra was born in 2018 following the acquisition, by the Italian company Ubiquity, of the Indian operator Solutions Infini. The new company had thus registered a pro-forma 2017 turnover of around 65 million euros. But the shopping didn’t stop there. In August 2018 Kaleyra bought Hook Mobile, a US company specializing in the mobile services sector for companies and owner of an innovative cloudt platform, thus bringing its pro-forma turnover to around 107 million dollars, with a team of over 200 people, distributed in 12 locations worldwide. Kaleyra, through a proprietary platform, manages integrated multi-channel communication services that include the use of messages, push notifications, e-mail, instant messaging, voice services and chatbot. It boasts 3,000 customers worldwide. The listing aims to support both organic and strategic Kaleyra growth, especially in the US market.
