Mitel aims for the cloud with $400-million Aastra purchase Another Canadian hi-tech company is spreading its wings in the cloud. Mitel Networks Corp. said on Monday it plans to acquire enterprise communications firm Aastra Technologies Ltd. in a friendly cash-and-share deal valued at about $400-million. The transaction will create a billion-dollar company with the wherewithal to help customers upgrade to the rapidly growing cloud-based sector, Ottawa-based Mitel said on Monday. The takeover follows last week's announcement that Open Text Corp. is buying - for $1.17-billion - cloud-based business-to-business (B2B) service provider GXS Group, based in Gaithersburg, Md. Terms of Mitel's acquisition of enterprise-solutions specialist Aastra call for Aastra shareholders to receive about $31.96 per common share, mostly in the form of Mitel stock, as well as $6.52 (U.S.) in cash. Mitel said the offer represents a 20.9 per cent premium to the 30-day average price of Aastra shares as of last Friday. The transaction will result in a $100-million cloud business, a global customer base of 60 million end users in more than 100 countries and number-one market share in Western Europe, Mitel said. The $18-billion business communications market is poised to migrate to software-based cloud services and Mitel is now better positioned than ever to capitalize on that, the company said. The business communications market is ripe for consolidation on the cusp of a mass migration to cloud-based services. We believe that small competitors with narrow focus and limited global growth will quickly reach be marginalized," Mitel president and chief executive officer Richard McBee said in a news release. Aastra's solid financial structure, complementary portfolios, geographic reach, and large installed-based immediately augment and expand Mitel's market footprint, enabling us to capitalize on a unique opportunity to leap-frog the competition and lead the market. Aastra shareholders will end up owning about 43 per cent of the new entity. The deal requires the approval of more than two-thirds of the votes cast by Aastra shareholders at a special meeting scheduled for January. Also required is approval of Mitel shareholders by majority vote. Francisco Partners and Terry Matthews, who together control about 63 per cent of Mitel's common shares, plan to vote for the transaction.