The total purchase consideration payable for the acquisition of Starfish is $20.7 million with upfront payment of $15.4 million (approximately Rs 130 crore) to shareholders, subject to customary adjustments for working capital, debt and cash on closing, as per the regulatory filing by Persistent.
Under the financial terms, sellers will be eligible for a maximum cumulative earnout of $5.1 million over the next two years. This amount is contingent on achievement of certain performance thresholds. Further, certain key employees will be eligible for retention payment of an aggregate amount of $0.2 million over the next two years contingent on employment continuity.
“Known for its cutting-edge Enterprise Communications automation platform, Starfish Associates caters to the world’s largest enterprises including many Fortune 500 companies. Starfish Associates’ automation platform excels as an intelligent integration hub and workflow engine, facilitating seamless connections across a myriad of business applications and communication systems,” Persistent said in a statement.
It enhances multi-vendor communication management through automation with platforms such as Amazon Connect, Avaya, Cisco, Genesys, and Microsoft Teams. In addition, it integrates with key business applications like ServiceNow, Workday, and Microsoft Active Directory to streamline workflows and operations, the statement added.
Upon closing, Persistent Systems Inc., USA will acquire a 100% stake in Starfish. It is expected to complete the acquisition tentatively within 4-6 weeks subject to meeting customary closing conditions.
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“The integration of Starfish Associates’ platform greatly enhances our unified communications and contact center management offerings as this industry undergoes significant disruption on the back of AI-led innovations. This acquisition paves the way for us to support our global clients to unlock the full potential of these innovations in their contact centers,” said Sandeep Kalra, chief executive officer and executive director of Persistent.Starfish had LTM (last twelve months) revenue of $8.2 million as of March 31, 2024. In the previous two calendar years 2022 and 2023, it reported a revenue of $7 million each.
Founded in 2005 with headquarters in New Jersey, Starfish offers solutions in the Unified Communications and Contact Center ecosystem building an automation platform to help enterprises streamline the management of communication systems. It helps enterprises with automated provisioning, self-service, resource management, and migration tools, the filing further said.
Robert Hankin, co-founder and partner, Starfish Associates, said, “Since our inception, Starfish Associates has been dedicated to enhancing enterprise management of unified communications and contact centers, always aiming to elevate customer and employee experiences. Joining forces with Persistent presents a new chapter for us, on one hand augmenting our capabilities in integration, automation, and AI-driven contact center transformation, and on the other hand, giving us access to Persistent’s strong customer base.”
Following the acquisition announcement on Wednesday morning, Persistent’s stock hit a 52-week high to 4,596 apiece rising over 2% on the BSE.
