Posted 11/17/09 at 07:05:44 AM by Paul Lilly

How seriously does Cisco want to acquire Norwegian video conferencing firm Tandberg? Serious enough to increase its original takeover offer by another $390 million.

"The new offer represents the offeror's final price for this transaction," Cisco said, adding that it will withdraw the offer if it doesn't achieve the desired 90 percent level of acceptance, the Wall Street Journal reports.

In early October, Cisco offered to buy Tandberg for a little under $3.1 billion, which already represented an 11 percent premium to Tandberg's share price. Cisco said it was a "fair price" for the firm and hinted that it might walk away from the deal if not approved, but several minority shareholders disagreed and ultimately rejected the original offer.

It's believed that the new offer will probably be accepted, which already has the support of several bigger shareholders.

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Posted 11/17/09 at 07:05:34 AM by Paul Lilly

3Com's board of directors and the company's shareholders appear to be at odds over a proposed $2.7 billion merger agreement with HP that was announced last week. Displeased with the potential merger, the shareholders have filed a class action lawsuit in hopes of preventing the deal.

The complaint names the entire company's board of directors and accuses the defendants of attempting to deceive 3Com shareholders by agreeing to a deal that undermines the true value of their investment in the company, TechCrunch reports.

Under terms of the agreement, HP would pay stockholders of 3Com $7.90 per share, but the bankruptcy lawyer who filed the case on behalf of the plaintiffs argues that 3Com's directors should have insisted on a higher price.

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Posted 11/12/09 at 07:06:30 AM by Paul Lilly

In a blockbuster deal, Hewlett Packard on Wednesday announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase 3Com at a price of $7.90 per share. That breaks down to about $2.7 billion and puts HP, which is already a strong networking company, in a better position to compete with Cisco.

"“Companies are looking for ways to break free from the business limitations imposed by a networking paradigm that has been dominated by a single vendor," said Dave Donatelli, executive vice president and general manager, Enterprise Servers and Networking, HP. "By acquiring 3Com, we are accelerating the execution of our Converged Infrastructure strategy and bringing disruptive change to the networking industry. By combining HP ProCurve offerings with 3Com’s extensive set of solutions, we will enable customers to build a next-generation network infrastructure that supports customer needs from the edge of the network to the heart of the data center."

The acquisition will help HP build its networking portfolio, particularly in expanding the company's Ethernet switching offerings and routing solutions, HP said the move will also help strengthen its position in the fast growing Chinese market.

Terms of the transaction have already been approved by the HP and 3Com board of directors and is expected to close in the first half of 2010.

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Posted 11/05/09 at 07:53:33 AM by Paul Lilly

Panasonic earlier in the week said it had begun a tender offer to take over rival Sanyo for an estimated $4.4 billion, which would create one of the world's largest electronics companies. But before that can happen, China is forcing Panasonic to sell off assets in Japan if its to approve the deal, the Financial Times reports.

The landmark ruling, which is based on anti-trust laws introduced in August of last year, has some concerned over the growing power of Beijing's competition authorities. Those who study competition law say the Chinese demands go further than those of the European Union and make international companies take greater notice of China when considering acquisitions.

Should the deal go through, Sanyo is expected to become Panasonic's subsidiary by mid-December, or a year after the two companies first announced the potential takeover.

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Posted 10/13/09 at 04:40:33 PM by Paul Lilly

Cisco today announced it has agreed to fork over $2.9 billion to acquire Starent Networks Corp., a Massachusetts-based company who makes equipment that allows carriers to tie their wireless networks to the Internet.

"We are very pleased that Starent Networks will be joining the Cisco team, and we believe their products and engineering talent will greatly benefit our Service Provider customers as they build out their Mobile Internet offerings," said John Chambers, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Under terms of the agreement, Cisco will pay $35 per share in cash for each share of Starent Networks, which represents a 21 percent premium to Monday's closing price of $29.03. In addition, Cisco will also assume outstanding equity awards.

Starent has already accepted the offer, however the deal is subject to closing conditions and regulatory review. Barring any unforeseen complications, Cisco expects the deal to close during the first half of 2010.

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