Teleservices provider West Corp. announced its entry into the teleconferencing business Friday with its purchase of conferencing provider InterCall for $399.6 million cash.
The deal, funded with cash and bank credit, will close in second-quarter 2003, West said. The acquisition represents the next step in Omaha, NE-based West's diversification efforts, which in July 2002 included the purchase of Attention LLC, an accounts receivable management provider.
Based in Chicago, InterCall has a client base of about 14,000 in North America, Europe and Asia, West said. It employs 1,200 people and produced revenue of $196 million and net income of $30.1 million in 2002.
In a statement, West president/CEO Tom Baker said West had sought to enter the conferencing market for more than a year. Other West officers stated that integration with West will let InterCall access West's call processing platform, thus expanding its conferencing capacity.
