Spirent plc to acquire Anritsu's remote special services test product line
Spirent plc has agreed to acquire certain assets of the remote special services test product line of Anritsu Co. for a cash consideration of $26 million (approximately £ 17.4 million). Following completion of the acquisition, the remote special services test product line will be integrated into the Service Assurance division of Spirent's Communications group. The acquisition is expected to be immediately earnings enhancing for Spirent.
The Anritsu remote special services test product line includes systems to access, test, and monitor the performance of networks for many of the world's leading telecommunications service providers, contend company representatives. Products being acquired by Spirent include Anritsu's remote test probes and access units for HiCap (DS1 and DS3), Digital Data, and voice frequency circuits, referred to as 'special services'. Anritsu's remote special services test systems currently monitor some two million circuits for some 20 service providers located in eight countries. For the year ended 31 March 2002, the product line being acquired generated unaudited revenues of $21.5 million (approximately £ 14.4 million).
"We are firmly focused on growing the Spirent Communications service assurance business," asserts Nicholas Brookes, chief executive of Spirent. "This acquisition further strengthens our award-winning broadband product portfolio and opens opportunities to expand our customer base. Three of the largest service providers in North America, Verizon, SBC and Qwest, have made significant commitments to Spirent's service assurance solutions. This acquisition will bring us additional installed base in these customers as well as BellSouth, Korea Telecom and other important customers on which we can build," he adds.
The acquisition is subject to certain terms and conditions and is expected to complete next month. The cash consideration for the acquisition will be financed out of Spirent's existing cash resources.
For more information about Spirent plc (Crawley, England), visit the company's Web site at www.spirent.com.