Mitel has revealed its intentions to buy ShoreTel in order to leverage its position as a leader in the Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) sector.
The company explained the cloud is a major focus in its strategy and buying ShoreTel will enable it to boost its presence in the UCaaS field, making it the second largest business in the industry.
"This is a very natural combination that enables us to continue to consolidate the industry and take advantage of cost synergy opportunities while adding new technologies and significant cloud growth to our business," said Mitel CEO, Rich McBee.
"Together, Mitel and ShoreTel will be able to take customers to the cloud faster with full-featured, cloud-based communications and applications."
Mitel said ShoreTel will be merged into its wider business and will be headquartered from Mitel's office in Ottowa, Canada. It will be led by McBee and Steve Spooner, Mitel's chief financial officer with a total workforce topping 4,200 when the transaction is complete.
Crucially, many of ShoreTel's channel partners will become the responsibility of Mitel too, meaning its total partner network will top 3,200, helping to drive forward its vision to become the leader in UCaaS technologies.
"With the announcement today, this concludes our comprehensive review of strategic alternatives by delivering a significant cash premium for our shareholders," said Don Joos, CEO of ShoreTel.
"Customers are clearly moving to the cloud at a rapid pace. The combination of Mitel and ShoreTel creates a new UCaaS market leader with a differentiated strategy and solution, and a clear migration path so that no customer is left behind or will have to abandon what they already have to cloud-enable their organization."
