Call-Center Software Providers Genesys, Interactive Intelligence to Merge

Call-center software company Genesys said it agreed to buy rival firm Interactive Intelligence Group Inc. for roughly $1.4 billion, as it seeks to bulk up amid a changing consumer landscape.

Under the terms of the agreement, Genesys will pay $60.50 a share in cash for Interactive Intelligence, a roughly 7% premium to Tuesday's closing price and a 36% premium to the stock's closing price on July 28, the day before Reuters reported that Interactive was considering strategic alternatives.

Interactive Intelligence shares rose 5.3% to $59.66 in premarket trading.

Customers seeking to resolve a problem or learn about products and services have increasingly turned to websites, online messaging, chats and other relatively new methods of communicating with a business. Genesys software helps orchestrate digital and voice interactions for customers including AT&T Inc. and Citigroup Inc.

Private-equity firm KKR & Co. said Tuesday that it would buy Minneapolis-based call-center software maker Calabrio, which makes software meant to improve call-center interactions, analyzing the sentiment or tone of a caller or directing calls to the right attendant to help a customer. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

The Genesys transaction is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to regulatory approval and a vote by Interactive Intelligence shareholders. Don Brown, chairman and chief executive of Interactive Intelligence who owns about 17% of the company's stock, has agreed to vote his shares in favor of the deal.

Write to Joshua Jamerson at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 31, 2016 09:35 ET (13:35 GMT)

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