Brooktrout Technology Acquires Lucent Technologies' Computer Telephony Products Business Acquisition of Voice Products Group Extends Communication Leadership,
Broadens <>
December 18, 1998
NEEDHAM, Mass., Dec. 17 /PRNewswire/ Brooktrout (Nasdaq: BRKT), a worldwide supplier of electronic communications products, today
announced it has acquired the Computer Telephony Products
(CTP) business of Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LU) for
$29.4 million in cash. The CTP business provides technologies
for the voice processing industry and manufactures hardware
and software components that connect PCs and LANs with
telephone networks.
CTP, based in Los Gatos, Calif., employs approximately 100
employees and will become a wholly owned subsidiary of
Brooktrout Technology, Inc. It will continue to operate from its
current facilities. Kenneth Lavine, formerly president of CTP,
will become president of Brooktrout Technology's Los Gatos
division. Prior to this acquisition, CTP, was part of Lucent
Technologies Octel Messaging Division, which was formed in
1997 through Lucent's acquisition of Octel Communications.
CTP sells its products through telephone switch
manufacturers, computer telephony value added resellers and
developers, and distributors. Lucent will remain a key customer
of Brooktrout's.
"The acquisition of CTP gives Brooktrout Technology a strong
competitive position in the voice messaging area to
complement our leadership position in fax and data," said Eric
Giler, president of Brooktrout Technology. "CTP brings
advanced voice technology, complementary distribution
channels and a world-class team of employees who will help us
deliver ever more innovative solutions to our customers based
on leading-edge voice, fax and data products."
Brooktrout Technology and CTP have complementary product
lines and development efforts in voice, fax and data, three
primary technology sectors of the electronic communication
market. This acquisition positions Brooktrout Technology as a
single-source provider offering its customers a broad line of
voice, fax and data products. Brooktrout Technology's
customers -- service providers, system OEMs and VARs -- can
now offer fast-emerging applications such as unified messaging
and response, digital recording, IP telephony, open systems
remote access and call center CTI.
"This is a great opportunity for the CTP team because their
charter is closely aligned with the customers, markets and
product direction of Brooktrout Technology, a leader in
electronic communications components," said Lucent's Doug
Sabella, chief operating officer of the Octel Messaging Division.
"Lucent's strategic focus is on communications networking,
and we need to keep our resources targeted on that industry
and its customers."
"CTP generated about $30 million in revenue in fiscal 1998, and
Brooktrout Technology's revenue for the twelve months ending
September 30, 1998 was approximately $98 million," said
Lavine, the new president of Brooktrout Technology's Los
Gatos division. "This new team will have the critical mass
needed to drive the growth and direction of the marketplace
and impact the development of open industry standards."
The acquisition will be accounted for as a purchase.
Accordingly, Brooktrout expects to allocate the purchase price
to the assets acquired based upon an independent appraisal of
their fair value. Based on preliminary information available to
Brooktrout, it anticipates that the impact of the transaction
will be to reduce its fourth quarter 1998 earnings by
approximately $11.5 to $13.6 million (approximately $7.3 to
$8.7 million after tax benefits, or approximately $0.63 to $0.75
per share) reflecting primarily the anticipated allocation of
purchase price to in-process research and development efforts
as well as other merger related charges. This anticipated
allocation and the other merger related charges are preliminary
and are subject to finalization and could change.
About Brooktrout
Brooktrout, headquartered in Needham, Mass., is a worldwide
supplier of electronic communications products. Through its
multiple companies and divisions: Brooktrout Technology,
Netaccess, Brooktrout Software and Interspeed, the
company's mission is to provide high performance, high quality
electronic communications products to system vendors,
service providers, and VARs dependent on electronic
information exchange. Brooktrout's products include a broad
range of multi-channel fax, data and voice boards, CTI
solutions and services, rapid application development tools, fax
and voice systems, network interface cards, modems and xDSL
systems which enable its customers to deliver a wide range of
solutions for the integration and cost- effective management
of voice, fax and data communications. For more information
on Brooktrout and its companies, please visit
www.brooktrout.com.
About Lucent Technologies
Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J.,
designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private
networks, communications systems and software, data
networking systems, business telephone systems and
microelectronic components. For more information on Lucent
Technologies, visit the company's web site at
lucent.com
Except for historical information contained in this release,
there may be forward-looking statements about Brooktrout
Technology that do not give full weight to all the potential
risks including, but not limited to, product demand and market
acceptance, rapid changes in technology, the impact of
competition and the integration of acquired companies. Actual
results may differ materially. Additional information concerning
those and other factors is contained in the "Risk Factors"
section of the Registration Statement filed by Brooktrout with
the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 26, 1996.
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
For more information about Brooktrout Technology and its
products, call 888-248-5401 or visit www.brooktrout.com
SOURCE Brooktrout Technology
/CONTACT: Anne Marie Clark of Brooktrout, 781-433-9552,
axc@brooktrout.com, or Mary Ward of Lucent Technologies, 908-582-7658,
maryward@lucent.com/
/Web site: lucent.com
/Web site: brooktrout.com
(BRKT LU)
[Copyright 1998, PR Newswire] |
