NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Syniverse Holdings Inc., the maker of mobile-phone messaging and network technology, said it will be taken private by Carlyle Group in a deal valued at about $2.6 billion.

Carlyle will pay investors $31 a share in cash, a 30 percent premium to the Tampa, Florida-based company's closing price on Wednesday, Syniverse said in a statement yesterday. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011.

Syniverse reported lower sales and profit in 2009 as customers spent less amid a worldwide recession. The company agreed to buy VeriSign Inc.'s messaging business to help it tap into the growth in data plan use and texting for wireless carriers.

This is the second telecommunications company that Carlyle has agreed to buy this week. The leveraged-buyout firm on Wednesday agreed to pay $3.9 billion for CommScope Inc., to take advantage of demand for high-speed Internet networks.

Syniverse jumped $6.82, or 29 percent, to $30.61 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading at 10:48 a.m. The stock had gained 36 percent this year before yesterday.