Airvana Goes Private in $530M Deal

Chelmsford, MA-based Airvana (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AIRV]]), which makes femtocell equipment and other infrastructure for wireless operators, announced today that it’s departing the public markets and going private in a $530 million deal with a group of private-equity investors. Airvana will become a subsidiary of 72 Mobile Holdings, a new company owned by affiliates of S.A.C. Private Capital Group, LLC, GSO Capital Partners LP, Sankaty Advisors LLC and ZelnickMedia. The group’s purchase price of $7.65 per share in cash represents a 23 percent premium over Airvana’s closing share price on December 17, 2009. “As we transition to a private company, Airvana will continue to focus on its two major mobile broadband product lines, EV-DO software and femtocells,” said president and CEO Randy Battat, who, along with the company’s other co-founders, will receive equity interest in 72 Mobile Holdings in exchange for a portion of his shares.

Author: Wade Roush

Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco. Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.) I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia. I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats. My personal site: waderoush.com My social media coordinates: Twitter: @wroush Facebook: facebook.com/wade.roush LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/waderoush Google+ : google.com/+WadeRoush YouTube: youtube.com/wroush1967 Flickr: flickr.com/photos/wroush/ Pinterest: pinterest.com/waderoush/