Wheelings & Dealings: Vringo's Mobile Platforms and Partner Services will be Acquired by Infomedia

It is day two of the new year and we are starting off with an acquisition. Vringo and Infomedia have entered into a definitive agreement, in which Infomedia will acquire Vringo’s mobile partnerships and application business.

Vringo, Inc. is a Delaware corporation which was founded in 2006. The company engages in the innovation, development and monetization of intellectual property and mobile technologies. Vringo's intellectual property portfolio consists of over 500 patents and patent applications.

These patents cover telecom infrastructure, internet search and mobile technologies. The patents and patent applications have been developed internally, and acquired from third parties. Vringo operates a global platform for the distribution of mobile social applications and services.

Infomedia Ltd. is a company that was established in Sydney, Australia in 1987. It is a provider of customer relationship management and monetization technologies to mobile carriers and device manufacturers, and it has a 35 member team that is located in the U.K.

As part of the agreement, Infomedia will also obtain Vringo’s portfolio of internally developed patents. The patents will be related to the technologies mentioned above. The goal is that by having access to Vringo’s technology, Infomedia will be in a strong position to create a more integrated global product offering for delivery into major carriers, OEMs and enterprise partnerships.

The terms of the agreement are that Vringo will receive an equity stake in Infomedia. This will amount to about eight percent of Infomedia. Vringo will also license certain intellectual property assets and support Infomedia to identify and protect new intellectual property. 

Andrew D. Perlman, who is CEO of Vringo, said "We believe this transaction with Infomedia unlocks additional value. Under Michael's leadership, Infomedia has achieved consistent high growth and we believe that combining our global distribution platform and research and development platform with Infomedia's product offerings and services will create a valuable synergy.  Vringo looks forward to being an equity owner of Infomedia and working closely with the company as it continues to grow."

The agreement between the two companies has Perlman joining Infomedia’s board of directors. It was announced today, however the transaction is expected to close by March 31, 2014. This is assuming upon the satisfaction or waiver of certain closing conditions which are anticipated to be completed by that time.

Michael Tomlins, CEO of Infomedia, said, "The team at Infomedia is excited to add Vringo's technology, product offering and research and development knowledge base to our business. This acquisition will accelerate our growth by providing Infomedia with a global distribution network for our expanded product portfolio. Our partnership with Vringo will enrich our ability to cultivate and protect new technology by leveraging Vringo's intellectual property rights expertise. We are also pleased to welcome Andrew to our Board of Directors, where his experience and expertise will be a valuable asset in shaping the future direction of the company."

Infomedia already has other partnerships that include content publishers as Gameloft and EA Games. It also has agreements with mobile carriers such as EE, Orange, T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile. In addition, Infomedia has embedded products on major mobile device manufactures including Samsung, HTC, Sony and Alcatel.