Spirent Communications agrees £1bn takeover by US-based Viavi Solutions

Shares in Spirent Communications soared on Tuesday after the FTSE 250 company agreed to be bought by US communications equipment company Viavi Solutions.

The acquisition will be worth £1 billion for the UK telecoms testing business and Spirent shareholders will receive 175 pence per share, reflecting a 61.4 per cent premium to the closing price of the shares. company shares on Monday.

Crawley-based Spirent shareholders will also receive a special dividend of 2.5 pence per share “in lieu of any final dividend” for 2023.

Spirent Communications Stock They rose 58.49 per cent to 171.80 pence in Monday morning trading.

The deal is expected to help Viavi Solutions increase its expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning, security, cloud-native architecture and automation.

Private equity firm Silver Lake will also make a $400 million long-term investment in Viavi Solutions as part of the deal.

Eric Updyke, CEO of Spirent, said: “The combination with Viavi Group provides a highly complementary product offering that can be marketed globally.

‘It will allow Spirent to build on the strategic progress we have made to date, with a partner that has the scale and resources to capitalize on the long-term growth opportunities ahead.

“The combination of Viavi Group and Spirent Group creates a stronger business that will be better able to compete in what remains a challenging market environment and we are confident in the opportunities this will bring for many of our stakeholders.”

Oleg Khaykin, President and CEO of Viavi, added: “The combination of our leading optical and communications test and measurement technologies with Spirent’s high-performance test and assurance solutions is expected to deliver enhanced product and application solutions, Accelerate growth in new markets and strengthen innovation through expanded engineering and design capabilities.’