Digital services company Comverse has signed a definitive agreement to acquire secure mobile messaging and engagement services firm Acision, with the hopes that the combined company will extend its global leadership in next-generation digital solutions.

The acquisition, which will be completed by the end of Q3 2015, came with a price tag of $135m (£87m) in cash, 3.13m shares of Comverses common stock and potential earnout payments of up to $35m. In addition, Comverse will seek to maintain Acisions existing $157m senior credit facility after the transaction is complete.

The merging of the two companies will enable Comverses offering to expand to include mobile monetisation, enterprise messaging and other digital services in addition to its existing cloud Multi-VAS and IP messaging solutions. The firms customer base will span service providers, OTT messaging firms and enterprise customers, whom it also provides with data analytics, application-to-person messaging and two-factor authentication services.

The new company will be led by a team comprised of executives from both organisations, led by Philippe Tartavull, president and CEO of Comverse, and will remain headquartered in Massachusetts.

“Continued consolidation in the service provider space creates the need for strong suppliers,” said Tartavull. “Our acquisition of Acision underscores Comverses commitment to quickly building scale and market leadership in the fast-growing digital services sector.

“Acision brings a diverse portfolio of mobile monetisation and rich enterprise messaging solutions complementing Comverses market leading digital services platform. The combined portfolio will allow us to enable our service provider and enterprise customers to deliver and monetise a new array of advanced digital services to their customers.”