McLean Watson-backed SkyWave to be sold to ORBCOMM

ORBCOMM Inc (Nasdaq: ORBC) has agreed to acquire SkyWave Mobile Communications, a provider of satellite and satellite-cellular products and applications based in Ottawa. The purchase price was US$130 million, however, John Eckert, former managing partner at Canadian venture capital firm McLean Watson Capital, which has backed SkyWave since 1999, told peHUB Canada that gross proceeds from the sale will total US$182 million. Skywave's CEO Pui-Ling Stanley Chan was formerly with McLean Watson. Eckert, who co-founded Round 13 Capital in 2012, is the company's chairman. The deal, expected to close in early 2015, will create the largest global space-based machine-to-machine communications company, ORBCOMM said.

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