Shareholders OK Tekelec sale

Tekelec shareholders Wednesday overwhelmingly approved the sale of the Morrisville technology company to a New York private equity firm along with generous compensation packages to company executives.

Tekelec, which makes software for phone and Internet companies, is being sold for $780 million to a group of investors led by Siris Capital. A handful of Tekelec execs, who orchestrated a layoff last year, stand to gain more than $7 million for steering the company through the acquisition.

The shareholder vote held no surprises. The lopsided vote in favor of the merger was 54.2 million to 256,700. The vote for the golden parachutes was closer, but not by much. The final count was 48.7 million for and 5.4 million against.

For the executives, the deal will mean $4.3 million for CEO Ronald de Lange, $1.8 million for CFO Gregory Rush, and $1.6 million for general counsel Stuart Kupinsky.

Tekelec, which employs 620 in Morrisville and 1,140 globally, has been struggling to offset dwindling income from its legacy technology, which transmits phone calls and text messages, with sales from new technologies designed for 4G and data networks.

Last May, the company said it would cut its workforce by as much as 15 percent, and then increased that amount to 20 percent in the third quarter. Just a few months ago, the company had 1,250 employees worldwide, but that total has since been reduced by 110 people.

The deal is expected to close this month.