Infinera to Acquire Coriant

Yesterday saw some interesting M&A news within the world of optical vendors. Infinera has announced an agreement to acquire Coriant for some $430M in cash and stock.

Coriant was born back in 2013 from a selection of assets of Nokia Siemens Networks plus Sycamore and soon thereafter Tellabs, all of which had been acquired by Marlin Equity Partners. Oaktree Capital Management became the company’s majority owner last year, and will own 12% of Infinera if the deal goes through as currently envisioned.

The deal will roughly double Infinera’s current revenue base and will bring in some new large network operators and content providers as customers for the first time. Infinera expects to squeeze out some $100M in annual synergies, accumulating to $250M through 2021 should all go well. The deal broadens Infinera’s product set further, enabling them to address a wider range of network operator needs and adding some additional talent in the field of SDN.

Meanwhile, Infinera also took the opportunity to pre-announce a few details about its Q2 earnings. Revenue is expected to come in above the midpoint of the previously announced range of $203-213M, which is pretty much where analysts were expecting. Operating expenses are expected to be where previously projected, while gross and operating margins should be better than anticipated.

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Categories: Mergers and Acquisitions · Telecom Equipment