Avaya, the phone-equipment maker owned by private-equity firms Silver Lake and TPG Capital, may file for an initial public offering that would seek to raise about $1 billion, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
The company may file as early as this week, said the person, who declined to be identified because the plans aren’t public. The Basking Ridge, N.J., company, spun off from Lucent Technologies in 2000, was taken private in 2007 for $8.2 billion.
Avaya, which sells phones and related equipment to corporate clients, boosted sales 22 percent in the fiscal year ending in September, according to regulatory filings. The company bought Nortel Networks’ enterprise-telecommunications unit for $915 million in 2009, gaining more corporate phone equipment.
Skip MacAskill, a spokesman for Avaya, didn’t return a phone call for comment. Jennifer Farrelly, a spokeswoman for Silver Lake, and Owen Blicksilver, spokesman for TPG, declined to comment.
The Wall Street Journal reported Avaya’s IPO plans earlier.
More than 15 technology companies have filed for a public offering this year, an increase of 45 percent from last year. LinkedIn, the largest professional-networking site, had a valuation as high as $11.6 billion in its first day of trading last month.
