ViaSource Communications Inc. acquired Tele-Core Inc. and Excalibur Cable Communications Ltd. for a total of $212.8 million in cash, stock and assumed debt, it said last week.
ViaSource provides network-integration services for the broadband-cable telecommunications, satellite and wireless industries. The two new acquisitions will help the company to expand its offerings for digital-subscriber-line and direct-broadcast satellite providers.
According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, ViaSource paid $172.5 million for Tele-Core, including cash, common and preferred stock and debt. Excalibur went for $40.3 million in cash, stock and assumed debt.
TeleCore is a solutions and integration-management company specializing in installations for the DSL market. Its clients include Northpoint Communications Inc., Pacific Bell, Covad Communications Group Inc. and Jato Communications Corp.
Excalibur is a home-service provider for DirecTV Inc., and provides services including design, installation and upgrading of systems. It also provides a package of customer-relations options including service calls and other customer-related activities.
"The TeleCore and Excalibur acquisitions further extend our ability to provide clients with quality service delivered by highly trained professionals," ViaSource CEO Craig Russey said in a news release. "ViaSource continues to focus its goal on meeting the ever-increasing demands of the nation's suppliers of broadband technologies."
ViaSource filed for an initial public offering earlier this month to raise about $200 million. The company plans to use the proceeds of the offering to expand its Web-based dispatch and operation centers, to develop additional training facilities and to repay $56.6 million in debt and for acquisitions.
The filing did not indicate how many shares ViaSource intends to offer the public or at what price.
ViaSource has been on a bit of an acquisition tear this year, not including the TeleCore and Excalibur acquisitions, spending $18.2 million in cash, stock and assumed debt to purchase D.S. Cable TV Contractors Inc., which does cable installations on an outsourced basis, and Service Cable Electric Inc., a Florida-based electrical contractor.
According to SEC documents, the four acquisitions should add a total of $39.4 million in annual revenue to ViaSource.
Those acquisitions have already had an affect on ViaSource's top line, which grew to $29.1 million in the three months ended April 1, compared with $8.6 million the previous year.
But the company showed a net loss of $4.1 million in the quarter, compared with a profit of $191,000 in the same period last year. Cash flow also declined to negative $2.3 million in the most recent quarter, compared with positive $691,000 in 1999.
ViaSource attributed the losses to a special compensation charge of $3.2 million in April 2000, primarily for stock-option grants made to employees and consultants.
