Cisco buying Netgear in $850 Million deal

PRLog (Press Release) - Nov 11, 2009 -
By Brian DeSouza, M&A Journal

SAN JOSE (M&A JOURNAL) -- Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) announced today an $850 Million cash deal to acquire Netgear Inc.(Nasdaq: NTGR), in a bid to create a more powerful networking giant that would be poised to capitalize on retail wi-fi innovations.  That represents a premium of 25% to Netgear's share price as of late trading.

"With a superb balance sheet and $35B in cash, Cisco took advantage of a great opportunity to position itself ahead of renewed demand from the retail sector," securities analyst Ida Storm said.

Both companies recently reported positive quarterly earnings on strong sales.

"The driving motivation of the transaction is the gaining of market share by Netgear; along with cash and no debt they were poised for rapid gowth in the sector," Storm said in a statement.


Brian DeSouza is a reporter for M&A Journal in San Jose.