Arris wasn’t able to land Tandberg Television earlier this year, but it did announce Sunday night that it has snagged C-Cor for $730 million.
The cash and stock deal has been approved by both companies’ boards, but the acquisition still needs the shareholders’ stamp of approval and regulatory approval. The deal is expected to close in January. The combined entities of Arris and C-Cor will create a company with more than $1.2 billion in sales over the past 12 months.
“Arris and C-Cor have had a long standing business relationship,” said Bob Stanzione, Arris chairman and CEO, in a prepared statement. “The combination of our two businesses will create the leading pure play solutions provider to the global cable industry offering a full suite of IP telephony, high-speed data, video infrastructure and video management solutions. The combined company will be extremely well-positioned to deliver cross-platform solutions aimed at key customer spending initiatives including switched digital video, next-generation video-on-demand and digital advertising infrastructure.”
Arris makes gear for broadband cable networks including its cable modem termination system (CMTS) that has been deployed by North American cable operators and other operators around the world. The company also sells cable modem and telephony equipment.
Suwannee, Ga.-based Arris counts Comcast, Cox, Time Warner, and Liberty Global among its customer base.
C-Cor, based in State College, Pa., sells broadband access platforms for cable, operations support systems and video-on-demand systems. Earlier this year, C-Cor and the Comcast Media Center rolled out “VOD in a Box” for smaller operators. At this year’s SCTE Cable-Tec Expo, C-Cor demonstrated a combined solution for switched digital video with Harmonic that used C-Cor’s nABLE Session and Resource Manager.
FBR Research analyst Brian Coyne wrote in a summary today that Arris’ purchase of C-Cor was positive because the two companies’ portfolios have little overlap. He also didn’t anticipate any other offers for C-Cor.
“The deal would give Arris important video products and technology, along with more international exposure, a positive since we think cable capex will grow faster outside the U.S. over the next few years,” according to Coyne.
In February, Arris announced a $1.2 billon bid to purchase Tandberg only to see Ericsson buy up Tandberg for $1.4 billion.
Coyne also wrote that the combined portfolios of Arris and C-Cor could be attractive to other buyers down the road, including Ericsson or Alcatel.