Top Financial News
Wed, 07 Apr 1999, 8:55am EDT
ECI Telecom to Acquire PairGain Technologies, Inc., a Leading Provider of DSL Technology
PETAH TIKVA, Israel, and TUSTIN, Calif., April 7 (Bloomberg) -- ECI Telecom Ltd. and PairGain Technologies, Inc. today jointly announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which ECI Telecom Ltd. will acquire PairGain Technologies, Inc. in a cash transaction. PairGain is a world leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) networking systems.
The acquisition of PairGain Technologies, together with the Tadiran Telecommunications Ltd. merger completed earlier this month, provides ECI Telecom with best-of-breed communication technologies for both carrier and enterprise markets. It also reaffirms its commitment to expand its presence in the U.S.
The transaction has an implied value of $1.35 billion, which includes the equity purchase price as well as a technology development incentive plan. The incentive plan will leverage PairGain Technologies outstanding DSL microelectronics know-how to develop new products broadening ECI Telecom's networking solutions for the carrier market.
PairGain Technologies will retain its name and continue to be headquartered in Tustin, California. Dr. Tal Simchony , recently appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of ECI Telecom will serve as Chairman of the company, while recently appointed Michael Pascoe will remain CEO.
Dr. Tal Simchony said: ''This new acquisition underscores ECI's ambition to be a first-class provider of DSL solutions. PairGain Technologies expertise will complement and enhance our turnkey offering to carrier network operators for both narrowband and broadband applications, such as HDSL access in which ECI Telecom already has a worldwide market leading position.''
''We believe PairGain Technologies will immediately benefit from ECI Telecom's extensive worldwide presence in the carrier markets. PairGain's remote access products, combined with ECI's proven service management center product, will offer a state-of-the-art managed remote access solution for carriers and service providers,'' said David Rubner.
PairGain Technologies went public in 1993 and was founded by a team of network industry veterans and is headquartered in Tustin, CA, where it employs 820 people. The company is a world leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) networking systems. Service providers and private network operators worldwide use PairGain's products to deploy DSL-based services such as high-speed Internet, remote LAN access and enterprise LAN extension.
For more than 10 years, PairGain has been recognized as a technological leader and industry innovator of telecommunications equipment. The company offers the widest range of HDSL, ADSL and SDSL-based systems available. Its product lines include HiGain® T1/E1 access systems, PG-Flex® and PG-Plus® small subscriber carrier systems, Avidia(TM) System and Megabit Modem® campus systems and megabit access products. Well over 1 million PairGain DSL nodes are installed in over 70 countries.
A provider of integrated network solutions, ECI Telecom designs, manufactures and markets end-to-end digital telecommunications solutions for today's new services and converging networks. ECI Telecom's advanced solutions create bandwidth, maximize revenues for network operators, expand capacity, improve performance, and enable new revenue producing services. Enhancing the capabilities of existing networks to support voice, data, video and multimedia services, ECI Telecom's equipment is supporting traffic in more than 300 service networks in over 145 countries throughout the world.
Completion of the transaction is subject to approval by PairGain Technologies shareholders and other customary closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close in approximately three weeks.
This document may include forward looking statements within the meaning of safe Harbor provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the general economy and ECI Telecom's and PairGain Technologies's lines of business and are generally identifiable by statements containing words such as ''expects'', ''believes'', ''estimates'' or similar expression. Statements related to future performance involve certain assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of ECI Telecom Ltd. or PairGain Technologies, Inc., and cannot be guaranteed. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expectation include, among others, foreign and domestic product and price competition, cost effectiveness, changes in governmental regulations, general economic and market conditions in various geographic areas, interest rates and the availability of capital. Although ECI Telecom and PairGain Technologies believe that their respective expectations reflected in any such forward looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, they can give no assurance that those expectations will be achieved |
