Cisco may be forced to drop the acquisition of Tandberg

After one month ago Cisco announced that will offer $3 billion for Tandberg, today there are rumors that this acquisition will not work as expected. It seems that after Tandberg’s board of directors recommended to accept the price offered, for 153.5 Norwegian Kroner per share, now this still requires approval by 90 percent of the company’s shareholders by 9th of November.

The problem get more complicated as shareholders, representing 24 percent of Tandberg’s shares, don’t plan to accept the deal, with arguments that Tandberg can succeed on it’s own. Another opinion would be that Cisco, or another bidder, has to offer a bigger price per share.

Checking now (4th of November 2009) the stocks price for Tandberg is aprox. 149.50 Norwegian Kroner per share, which is less that Cisco,s offer. Cisco’s Chief Strategy Officer Ned Hooper is reserved in regard to Cisco’s position about a new offer considering the actual price fair and admitting that the company will act with fiscal prudence.

In any way this dispute and the possibility that Cisco will not acquire Tandberg made a lot of people thinking about Cisco’s place in future of video communication.

Read more on NetworkWorld.com and Ned Hooper’s blog page.

Cisco acquire TANDBERG (for $3 billion)

Cisco today announced a definitive agreement for Cisco to launch a recommended voluntary cash offer to acquire TANDBERG (OSLO: TAA.OL).  TANDBERG, based in Oslo, Norway, and New York, is a global leader in video communications, including a broad range of world-class video endpoint and network infrastructure solutions with intercompany and multi-vendor interoperability. With this proposed acquisition, Cisco will expand its collaboration portfolio to offer more solutions to a greater number of customers, further accelerating market adoption globally.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will commence a cash tender offer to purchase all the outstanding shares of TANDBERG for 153.5 Norwegian Kroner per share for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $3.0 billion.  This represents an 11.0% premium to the previous day closing price of TANDBERG’s stock, and a 25.2% premium to the 3-month volume weighted average closing price for TANDBERG’s stock.  The proposal was recommended unanimously by TANDBERG’s board of directors.

Source: Cisco.com

Fluke Networks acquired AirMagnet

FlukeWith its acquisition of wireless LAN design, management and security vendor AirMagnet, Fluke Networks is positioning itself to be a vendor of choice for enterprises that are trying to manage hybridized networks with both wired Ethernet and wireless LAN technology.

“The bottom line is that enterprises are going to have hybrid networks for a really, really long time,” said Paul DeBeasi, senior analyst with Burton Group. “I’m having a lot more phone conversations with enterprises that are looking at new deployments where they want to just go all wireless for network access. What that really means is wireless LAN for access and wired Ethernet used for backhaul and also for switch trunks and data center connections.”

READ FULL STORY ON SearchNetworking.com

Broadcom makes bid to buy Emulex for $764 million

broadcomFollowing a rejection of efforts to purchase the company in January, Broadcom on Tuesday made an unsolicited bid to purchase Emulex for $764 million.

This marks the latest industry move in a data center convergence frenzy involving everyone from Cisco to HP.

Broadcom sent a letter to Emulex’s board of directors Tuesday offering to buy all outstanding shares of Emulex common stock for $9.25 per share, a 40% premium of the closing price of Emulex’s stock on Monday, according to Broadcom.

Both companies are based in Orange County, California — Emulex in Costa Mesa and Broadcom in Irvine. Broadcom produces semiconductors used mainly in communications products, such as communications networks, cell phones and cable set-top boxes. Emulex provides technology for connecting storage, servers and networks in data centers.

Read the full article on NetworkWorld.com

Cisco buying Flip video camera maker for $590 million

flipCisco Thursday announced its intent to acquire privately held Pure Digital Technologies, creator of the Flip video camcorder for consumers, for $590 million in stock.

Pure Digital is a “pioneer” in developing consumer-friendly video with mass-market appeal, Cisco says. The acquisition of Pure Digital is key to Cisco’s strategy to expand momentum in the media-enabled home and to capture the consumer market transition to visual networking, the company said in a statement.

In addition to exchanging $590 million in stock for all Pure Digital shares, Cisco will provide up to $15 million in retention-based equity incentives for continuing employees. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2009.

Read the full article on NetworkWorld.com