Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based Murdock Communications Corp, a company which specializes in providing long distance telecommunications services to hotels and motels, has signed a binding agreement to acquire two Austin, Texas-based companies to boost its presence in the telecommunications market. Murdock is set to pay $3.28m for Priority International Communications Inc, and will exchange 300,000 shares, which are currently valued at around $3 each, for Property International Communications Resources Inc. Both companies offer long distance services and live operator services to hospitality and payphone users. The newly acquired companies, which have common shareholders, will continue to trade under their original names as wholly-owned subsidiaries of Murdock. With the acquisitions, Murdock’s staff numbers have almost doubled to around 90, and the company’s chief executive officer, Thomas Chaplin says the purchases form part of a long term expansion plan, this being the first step. Chaplin wouldn’t be too specific about the plans but he did say the company intends to progress from the Nasdaq small cap market (where it floated in October of last year) within the next two years. Chaplin says the acquisitions will enable it to extend its product line to the customers of the new companies, and vice versa.
