Reliance Communications (RCom) is set to acquire Vanco, a London headquartered global virtual network operator (VNO), through its global arm, Reliance Globalcom. The company is in advanced stages of negotiations and it is learnt that most of the discussion points have been agreed upon mutually. The deal might be signed in a couple of days.
RCom, which had acquired US-based ethernet service provider, Yipes, is rolling out the proprietary Yipes services from the current 14 cities in US to over 40 countries, including doubling the coverage in US. During April-end, RCom had acquired eWave World, an emerging market 4G operator focused on Asia, Latin America, Western Europe and African continents.
While the final price of the deal is not known, at its peak the market cap of Vanco stood at $800 million. Vanco has over 200 clients primarily headquartered out of UK, France, Germany, the US and Singapore.
The Vanco acquisition would bring under RCom’s fold a virtual network in 230 countries across the world with over 800 new product offerings that Vanco has developed over the last 20 years. Like in earlier acquisitions of Flag, Yipes and eWave World, RCom is expected to retain the workforce including the top management of Vanco. Vanco is listed on the London Stock Exchange and RCom is looking at acquiring 100% equity of the global VNO.
Reliance Globalcom has been looking at forging alliances with regional and domestic carriers, which would also come along with the acquisition of Vanco. Vanco’s existing relationships are with 700 carriers across the world.