Avocent to Be Acquired by Emerson
Emerson and Avocent Corp. announced they have reached an agreement for Emerson to acquire Avocent, an IT infrastructure management company that has also made in-roads into digital signage and AV distribution. The cash deal is valued at $1.2 billion.
Emerson and Avocent Corp. announced they have reached an agreement for Emerson to acquire Avocent, an IT infrastructure management company that has also made in-roads into digital signage and AV distribution. The cash deal is valued at $1.2 billion. Company officials said they expect the transaction to close around January 1, 2010, pending regulatory and Avocent stockholder approval.
Soon after the companies announced their proposed merger, the law firm of Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP issued a statement saying it was investigating the deal, specifically the actions of Avocent’s board. The law firm said it suspects Emerson’s purchase price of $25 per share may be too low.
Recently, Avocent had been at the forefront of creating wireless technologies for distributing AV content.
However, it wasn’t necessarily Avocent’s AV solutions that Emerson was after, according top statements from the companies. Avocent makes the popular LANdesk IT management platform.
“We cover the data center room. We have equipment throughout the room. The game for us is to expand that market,” said Emerson CEO David Farr said during a Tuesday conference call. “We’re going to expand the capabilities we have today in those data centers.”
Company officials said Avocent’s IT infrastructure management technology would complement Emerson Network Power’s power systems, energy management, and precision cooling solutions.
“Combining Avocent’s technologies, relationships, and installed base with Emerson’s power and cooling presence allows us to offer a more compelling solution to our data center customers’ most pressing challenge – energy efficiency,” Farr said in a separate statement. “It furthers our customers’ ability to better manage reliability, availability and lifecycle costs through a simple yet comprehensive view of the complete data center physical infrastructure.”
It was not immediately clear how Avocent’s AV distribution product lines would be affected by the acquisition.
