Acacia Stock Rises 30% After Cisco Agrees to Buy It for $4.5 Billion
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Cisco Systems said it has reached a revised agreement to acquire the optical networking company Acacia Communications for $4.5 billion, or about $115 a share in cash, up from a previously agreed price of $70 a share. Acacia shares were trading more than 30% higher Thursday morning.
Cisco (ticker: CSCO) expects the deal close in the current calendar quarter, subject to Acacia stockholder approval. Once closed, Acacia (ACIA) CEO Raj Shanmugaraj and the rest of the company’s team will join Cisco’s optical business.
“I am delighted that Cisco and Acacia have decided to come together in this mutual deal,” Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said in a statement. “We look forward to welcoming Raj and the Acacia team to Cisco to offer our customers world-class coherent optical solutions to power the Internet for the future.”
Shanmugaraj said in a statement that he has “strong conviction in the strategic benefits of joining the Cisco family and believe it will enable us to better support our existing customers, while reaching an expanded footprint of new customers globally.”
Last week, Acacia had said it was pulling out of the deal, asserting that the transaction had not received Chinese government approval within the time period established in the original deal terms. Cisco disputed that claim, and said that the deal actually had received Chinese approval. Cisco had filed suit in Delaware Chancery Court to enforce the original deal terms. Analysts believed Acacia was simply trying to negotiate improved terms—a strategy which appears to have been successful.
Acacia shares were up 31.8%, at $113.98, in recent trading, while Cisco was up fractionally at $45.43. The S&P 500 was up 0.3%.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at eric.savitz@barrons.com