Local tech company sells out

Company remains private with venture capital backing, despite founder's dream of selling to a public company

Email | Print By Milt Capps

Gene Kirby

Abandoning his dream of selling Dialogic Communications to a public company, Founder, President and CEO Gene Kirby announced today plans to sell the 24-year-old Franklin-based firm to a California company.

PlantCML of Temecula, Calif., a portfolio company held by Golden Gate Capital, which plans to fund the transaction, expects to close the deal within the next 30 days. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Golden Gate based in San Francisco has about $2.8 billion under management.

The move apparently enables Kirby and about 110 other investors to redeem their investments in the Dialogic, which is thought to have annual revenue of about $20 million. Dialogic Vice President-Marketing Lorin Bristow said no management changes have been implemented. The company has about 125 employees, mostly in Franklin.

In explaining his earlier go-public strategy, Kirby told NashvillePost.com in April that an initial public offering would be too expensive for Dialogic, and going it alone on an acquisitions campaign would require Dialogic to amass a warchest of up to $40 million. Kirby said earlier that Dialogic retained Morgan Keegan to find a buyer, but that firm's involvement in the deal announced today could not be confirmed at presstime.

Dialogic provides emergency-notification technology in a market that has been energized by terrorist threats and natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. PlantCML provides technologies for emergency-call centers, network infrastructure and data management.

"Our focus is on customer needs," Kirby said in a prepared statement yesterday. "With this acquisition, organizations that need to communicate quickly, easily and accurately in times of crisis will have access to more options at a greater overall value. We are proud to become a part of the PlantCML team."

David Dominik, managing director of San Francisco-based Golden Gate, said in the same statement, "With the acquisition of Dialogic, PlantCML will add another mission-critical element to its core suite of products, enhancing PlantCML's leadership position in its industry."

Dialogic has roughly 2,000 customers in 26 nations, including the United States, according to Bristow.