Verizon plans buy Terremark, an information technology services company, for $1.4 billion, part of an effort from the wireless carrier to boost its cloud-computing abilities.
Terremark runs 13 data centers in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. The Miami firm’s server farms are used for Web hosting, cloud computing and IT security services to “some of the world’s largest companies and U.S. government agencies” such as BMW and H&R Block.
The purchase offer of $19 a share in cash is a 35% premium over Terremark’s Thursday closing stock price of $14.05 a share. In a filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Terremark said it accepted Verizon’s offer.
By buying Terremark, Verizon hopes to “deliver business intelligence and collaboration services to anyone, anywhere and on any device,” Lowell McAdam, Verizon’s president and chief operating officer, said in a statement.
Verizon said it expects to finalize the purchase of Terremark in the first three months of the year.