Cisco to buy Starent Networks for $2.9 bln
- Source: Xinhua
- [08:24 October 14 2009]
- Comments
Cisco Systems Inc. said on Tuesday it has agreed to buy Starent Networks Corp., a US wireless networking equipment maker, for a total price of nearly 2.9 billion US dollars.
Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will pay 35 dollars per share in cash in exchange for each share of Starent Networks, which is now based in Tewksbury, Massachusetts.
"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," John Chambers, chief executive officer (CEO) of Cisco, said in a statement.
"Combining Cisco's strength in video and IP with Starent Networks' leading mobile infrastructure solutions, creates a compelling portfolio of products that provides an integrated architecture to offer rich, quality multimedia experiences to mobile subscribers on 3G and 4G networks," Starent Networks CEO Ashraf Dahod said.
Starent Networks, a provider of infrastructure solutions that enable mobile operators to deliver multimedia services to subscribers, was founded in 2000 and completed its initial public offering in 2007.
The company has about 1,000 employees worldwide and its products, supporting a wide range of mobile wireless networks, have been deployed by over 100 mobile operators in 45 countries and regions.
Cisco said the acquisition is expected to close during the first half of 2010 and will be subject to regulatory reviews.
The deal is Cisco's second major purchase in less than two weeks. On Oct. 1, the world's largest networking equipment maker announced that it will buy Norwegian videoconferencing company Tandberg ASA for about 3 billion US dollars in cash.
