Sequans raises $28m to strengthen its foothold in the market
Transaction led by Clipperton Finance, acting as Sole Manager.
Clipperton Finance successfully manages a $28 Million capital raising for Sequans
Clipperton Finance, a leading European corporate finance boutique dedicated to the High Tech and Media industries, today announced the closing of a $28m capital raising for Sequans Communications, a leading supplier of fixed and mobile WiMAX chips.
Major telecom operator Swisscom and Reliance Technology Ventures Limited, the corporate venture capital arm of Reliance ADA Group of India join BpiFrance, as new Sequans minority investors, and European investment bank NATIXIS is the primary participant in the convertible debt financing.
Commenting on the transaction, Georges Karam, CEO of Sequans, said “Sequans will use the new funding to strengthen Sequans’ foothold in the market, expand the company’s international customer support centers and launch the next wave of chips in order to maintain Sequans’ technology leadership. The new investors are of key strategic importance to Sequans: Swisscom and Reliance bring the operator perspective on the deployment of WIMAX in Europe and Asia, complementing the roles of our existing strategic investors, equipment vendors Motorola and Alcatel-Lucent”. He then added: “We expect this financing will carry us over until we are ready for an IPO”.
Nicolas von Bülow, Partner with Clipperton Finance and in charge of the transaction, commented the new financing: “We were glad that we were able to assist Sequans in the completion of this new round of financing, which was due to be focused on strategic and industrial partners for the company. In the end, we managed to have both a key Indian and a key European operator join Sequans’ group of shareholders, together with a strong financial Institution such as CDC; they will certainly be valuable partners in the future. This is the second round of financing we manage for Sequans, which we absolutely consider as a world class company and team and, we believe, a winner for the future”.
For more information, please contact:
Sequans
Kimberly Tassin
Tel: +1 206 654 1001
Clipperton Finance
Nicolas von Bülow, Partner, nvonbulow@clipperton.net
About Sequans
SEQUANS Communications is a leading supplier of subscriber station and base station chips for both fixed and mobile WiMAX, based on IEEE 802.16 standards. Sequans offers equipment manufacturers an all-in-one solution with full MAC and PHY functionality, enabling them to build a wide range of high performing WiMAX network components: femto, pico, micro and multi-sector macro base stations, outdoor and indoor subscriber terminals, home gateways, and all types of mobile devices. For more information, visit www.sequans.com.
About Clipperton Finance
Clipperton Finance is a European corporate finance boutique dedicated to the High Tech and Media industries. Clipperton is focused on start-up and advanced companies in the Software, Telecom, Components and Media/Internet spaces, advising them in their financial transactions: fundraising/capital increases and Mergers & Acquisitions. Over the past years the company and its team have managed to structure numerous high level international transactions in the European High Tech sector.