The activist investor Elliott Management is waging a battle to get Polycom (NASDAQ: PLCM) and Mitel Networks Corp. (NASDAQ: MITL) to merge. Elliott owns 9.6% of Mitel and 6.6% of Polycom.
The key is to get Polycom to pursue strategic alternatives, but ultimately merge with Mitel to achieve greater scale, diversification and synergies. Merging two out of date business communications companies seems legit.
Polycom is losing ground to Cisco and needs to figure out a way to stop the bleeding. Mitel tried to buy ShoreTel last year – a stock that Elliott also owns.
You can see Elliott’s full letter and highlights here.
