Motorola Buying Symbol
By TSC Staff
9/19/2006 7:24 AM EDT
Motorola (MOT - commentary - Cramer's Take) agreed Tuesday to buy rebounding Long Island wireless shop Symbol (SBL - commentary - Cramer's Take) for $15 a share in cash, or $3.9 billion.
Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola said the deal will expand its enterprise mobility business. The deal gives shareholders of Holtsville, N.Y.-based Symbol a 2% premium to Monday's closing price.
"Everything is going digital, and everything digital is going mobile -- this is especially evident in the way businesses are run today. Motorola and Symbol share the same vision of a digital, mobile world for enterprises that matches the world people enjoy at home and at play," said Motorola CEO Ed Zander. "This transaction significantly advances Motorola's enterprise mobility strategy and is consistent with our focus on building on our already strong intellectual property portfolio and extending Motorola's seamless mobility leadership. We are confident that this transaction will create significant value for stockholders by establishing a strong presence for Motorola in attractive adjacencies with enormous potential for sustained growth."
The transaction is expected to be accretive to Motorola's earnings per share in the first year following closing, excluding certain non-cash charges relating to amortization associated with acquired intangibles and other one- time accounting and transaction-related costs. The acquisition is subject to customary regulatory approval and the approval of Symbol's stockholders, and is expected to be completed in late 2006 or early 2007.
The acquisition of Symbol will not affect the pace of Motorola's share repurchase activity.
Symbol struggled mightily to turn its business around earlier this decade, hiring Bill Nuti from Cisco (CSCO - commentary - Cramer's Take), only to see him leave late last year to take a top job at NCR (NCR - commentary - Cramer's Take). In the meantime Symbol settled a shareholder lawsuit for $98 million and a fraud investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for $37 million in 2004. Those suits were tied to accounting missteps tied to pre-Nuti management.
But Symbol shares have surged this year along with the wireless business in general, and they recently touched a 52-week high. The company is now run by CEO Sal Iannuzzi. |
