Benzinga | Jan 14, 2021 08:04AM EST

LiveVox To Go Public Through Merger With Contact Center Platform

LiveVox will be only the second publicly-traded pure-play CCaaS company

Transaction includes $75 million PIPE anchored by top-tier mutual fund and institutional investors

Current LiveVox owners, led by majority shareholder Golden Gate Capital, expect to hold approximately 59% of the newly public company

LiveVox, a leading cloud-based provider of customer service and digital engagement tools, today announced it has entered into a merger agreement with Crescent Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:CRSA), a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company. Upon closing of the transaction, LiveVox will become a publicly traded company, and its common stock will be listed on NASDAQ under the symbol "LVOX".

Founded in 2000, LiveVox is a next-generation contact center platform that seamlessly unifies omnichannel communications, CRM, and WFO functionality into a single cloud-based customer engagement solution. Facilitating over 14 billion interactions annually, LiveVox simplifies the customer engagement process by unifying all conversations and interactions into a single pane of glass, creating a seamless transition for agents across communication mediums. The Company distinguishes itself from its closest competitors by reducing or eliminating the greatest friction points that prospective customers face, including security, compliance, and data integration. By removing these barriers, LiveVox makes the AI and digital applications customers want easy to implement. The Company expects to generate $129 million of revenue in 2021, approximately 26% higher than its 2020 revenue.

"We capitalize on the growing need for support agents to provide an unparalleled customer experience with our unique solutions platform," said Louis Summe, co-founder & CEO of LiveVox, who will continue to lead the business post-transaction. "Our full-service offering allows our clients to provide their customers with the exceptional relationship management they deserve along with the safety, security and ease of integration they have long come to expect."

"We believe that LiveVox's state-of-the-art software, its visionary management and its broad enterprise customer base position it perfectly to accelerate its growth with the visibility and capital from this transaction," Robert Beyer, Executive Chairman, and Todd Purdy, CEO of Crescent Acquisition Corp, jointly said. "Global conditions have pushed digital transformation to the forefront, and customer-facing businesses are anxious for a decisive leap towards a unified, cloud-based solution. We are also fortunate to have found such an exciting growth opportunity within the portfolio of an industry-leading private equity firm, Golden Gate Capital, who will remain a significant shareholder and partner and continue to guide the Company's next level of substantial growth in the public markets."

"We have been incredibly impressed by LiveVox's expansive growth since we invested in the Company seven years ago," said Rishi Chandna, Managing Director of Golden Gate Capital. "LiveVox's meaningful investment in its product portfolio and focus on building out the Company's sales and marketing efforts has transformed the business into a leading pure-play CCaaS provider with a larger total addressable market. We are excited to continue working closely with LiveVox, alongside our new partner in Crescent, to support the Company's management team in delivering mission critical, easy-to-deploy contact center software to enterprise customers."

Transaction Overview

The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of Crescent Acquisition Corp, as well as the Board of Directors of LiveVox and is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including the approval of the shareholders of Crescent Acquisition Corp.

The combined entity will receive approximately $250 million from Crescent's trust account, assuming no redemptions by Crescent's public stockholders, as well as $75 million in proceeds from a group of institutional investors and $25 million from a forward purchase agreement entered into by Crescent Capital Group Holdings LP. Upon completion of the transaction and assuming no redemptions, Golden Gate Capital and various current minority owners of LiveVox expect to hold approximately 59% of the newly public company, subject to various purchase price adjustments. Of the total approximately $350 million of cash from Crescent and the other institutional investors, up to $220 million will be used to purchase a portion of the equity owned by existing LiveVox shareholders, an anticipated $100 million will be added to LiveVox's balance sheet to be used to accelerate and enhance the Company's commitment to providing a superb customer experience through its next-generation contact center platform, and the remainder will be used to pay transaction expenses. Upon the closing of the transaction, Crescent Acquisition Corp's name will be changed to "LiveVox Holdings, Inc."

Additional information about the proposed transaction, including a copy of the merger agreement and investor presentation, will be provided in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by Crescent Acquisition Corp with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and available at www.sec.gov.