- Alliance to Share Distribution Channels, Products, Expertise, and Technology Worldwide
- Strong Focus on Burgeoning New Geographic Markets Such as Africa and Asia
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / October 16, 2017 / Pareteum Corporation (NYSE American: TEUM) ("Pareteum" or the "Company"), the rapidly growing mobile Cloud Communications Platform company, and Artilium plc (ARTA), a leading London-based Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE) and provider of innovative telecommunications software and solutions, announced today the formation of a strategic partnership to jointly pursue new and developed markets, creating accelerated growth and market penetration for both companies. The global collaboration includes the development of new joint products and services, enhanced sales coverage for both companies, increased speed to market, and access to greater knowledge and resources, forming a significant competitive advantage in the market. The alliance will pursue mature markets, as well as high growth, underserved developing markets. This is a formal arrangement between Artilium and Pareteum, signified by a strategic minority share exchange.
In conjunction with the Alliance, Pareteum and Artilium have also entered into a share exchange agreement whereby Artilium will issue 27,695,177 ordinary shares of 5 pence each in the Company ("New Ordinary Shares") at a notional price of 11 pence each to Pareteum in exchange for Pareteum issuing 3,200,332 common shares in Pareteum ("New Common Shares").
Under the terms of the Share Exchange, both the New Ordinary Shares and the New Common Shares will be subject to a 9-month lock-in period and subsequent to that both Artilium and Pareteum will be subject to orderly market provisions should they wish to dispose of any shares in the other party.
Pareteum's Global Mobility Cloud Platform including its full MVNE capability, API platform, Home Location Registry (HLR)-as-a-Service and Internet of Things (IoT) ready connectivity solution, when combined with Artilium OneApp, complementary data center infrastructure and Arta solution suite enables Carriers, Enterprises and IoT service providers to have a complete solution from retail to network. Pareteum and Artilium's combined cloud-based product sets will continue the Pareteum philosophy of connecting any device, anywhere, on any network.
"Through this partnership, we expect both companies will accelerate growth and market penetration. We see Asia and Africa as a strategic next step, and plan to move on to jointly pursue those and additional markets across the world," stated Hal Turner, Executive Chairman of Pareteum. "With an estimated 23% compound annual growth rate for IoT devices through 2021, developing markets, such as Asia and Africa, are poised to become major drivers of growth."
"Pareteum and Artilium are a natural fit to build a joint-solution. We are combining Pareteum's recent success in the IoT and API economy and our deep roots in the network MVNE market, with Artilium's robust retail, enterprise, e-commerce, and converged app platforms to create a winning combination," Mr. Turner added.
"Artilium brings a substantially well-developed retail service portfolio to the market, including in high-growth developing markets. This asset will be further leveraged as a result of Artilium and Pareteum's strategic alliance, strengthening each company's business and enabling us to jointly pursue revenue-expanding contracts with other mobile telecommunications providers worldwide," stated Jan-Paul Menke, Chairman of Artilium.
Vic Bozzo, CEO of Pareteum, stated, "I am pleased to have the opportunity to build a joint solution with Artilium, and to combine forces to attack the markets we currently serve as well as exciting new and high-growth markets where our combined scale will support our mutual rapid growth, leveraging our respective IoT resources. I am especially excited to be building that together with the Artilium team."
Bart Weijermars, CEO and Director of Artilium, commented, "As we have focused on our application, e-commerce and call center suite of products in support of the MVNO retail market, the strength of the Pareteum platform and global reach in MVNE and IoT enables us to bring full turnkey solutions to our data center and enterprise customers worldwide."
IoT devices will become the largest category of connected devices in the world next year, overtaking mobile phones in number, according to the 2016 Ericsson Mobility Report. The report projects that in 2021 there will be a total of 28 billion connected devices globally, with 16 billion being IoT devices. In 2015, 400 million IoT devices were already cellular subscribers.
About Pareteum Corporation
The mission of Pareteum Corporation (NYSE American: TEUM) is to connect "every person and everything". Organizations use Pareteum to energize their growth and profitability through cloud communication services and complete turnkey solutions featuring relevant content, applications, and connectivity worldwide. By harnessing the value of communications, Pareteum serves retail, enterprise, and IoT customers. Pareteum currently has offices in New York, Sao Paulo, Madrid, Barcelona, Bahrain, and the Netherlands. For more information, please visit: www.pareteum.com.
Forward-Looking Statements:
Certain statements contained herein constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements may include, without limitation, statements with respect to Pareteum's plans and objectives, projections, expectations, and intentions. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about Pareteum's industry, management's beliefs and certain assumptions made by management. Readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Because such statements involve risks and uncertainties, the actual results and performance of Pareteum may differ materially from the results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Given these uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Unless otherwise required by law, Pareteum also disclaims any obligation to update its view of any such risks or uncertainties or to announce publicly the result of any revisions to the forward-looking statements made here. Additional information concerning certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested in Pareteum's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which are available from the SEC or may be obtained upon request from Pareteum Corporation.
Pareteum Investor Relations Contact:
Ted O'Donnell
Chief Financial Officer
(212) 984-1096
[email protected]
SOURCE: Pareteum Corporation