Infrastructure vendor Commscope has acquired UK rival Arris in a deal worth $7.4 billion, which it said would help it take advantage of trends such a convergence, fibre, 5G and fixed wireless.
The deal, which is expected to close in the first half of next year and will see Commscope pay off Arris’s existing debts, will put Commscope in the position to address a market worth more than $60 billion, the company said.
Arris builds customer premises equipment, network and cloud hardware and enterprise network solutions.
In a statement, Commscope said: “The combined company is expected to drive profitable growth in new markets, shape the future of wired and wireless communications, and position the new company to benefit from key industry trends, including network convergence, fibre and mobility everywhere, 5G, Internet of Things and rapidly changing network and technology architectures.”
The vendor highlighted small cells, wired and wireless infrastructure, broadband, private networks and connected and smart home solutions as among the products it will focus on in the years ahead.
Between them, Commscope and Arris will share around 15,000 patents and a research and development budget of $800 million.
Once the takeover is completed Eddie Edwards will remain President and CEO of Commscope. Arris CEO Bruce McClelland will join the company in an unspecified role, as well as other members of the UK vendor’s senior team.
Edwards said: “After a comprehensive evaluation of our business and the evolving industry we operate in, we are confident that combining with Arris is the best path forward for CommScope to grow and provide the greatest returns for shareholders.
“CommScope and Arris will bring together a unique set of complementary assets and capabilities that enable end-to-end wired and wireless communications infrastructure solutions that neither company could otherwise achieve on its own.
“With Arris, we will access new and growing markets, and have greater technology, solutions and employee talent that will provide additional value and benefit to our customers and partners.”