Cisco has extended its offer period to acquire Tandberg by two days, giving Tandberg shareholders until Thursday to reach a decision. The offer period was scheduled to end Tuesday, but the move to December 3 marks the third time Cisco has extended the deadline. According to a statement, Cisco is giving Tandberg shareholders until Thursday to determine the 90 percent shareholder approval that would mark the acquisition's success. Cisco said on October 1 that it intended to acquire Tandberg, which has a 40 percent market share in video conferencing, for US$3.1 billion. The deal was initially stalled as a group of Tandberg shareholders representing 24 percent of Tandberg stock rebuffed Cisco for what they described as a too-low offer. At the time, Cisco Chief Strategy Officer Ned Hooper suggested in a Cisco blog post that the networking titan had no plans to raise its offer and that it reflected "fairness and value." On Monday, November 16, however, Cisco did an about-face and upped its offer for Tandberg by about US$300 million, also extending the original November deadline to December 1. Acquiring Tandberg gives Cisco an instant leg up in the worldwide video conferencing market, which has seen significant consolidation this fall thanks to Cisco and also Logitech's acquisition of LifeSize Communications. That consolidation marked one of the biggest stories in networking in 2009, with video promising to be a major area of focus for many networking and collaboration solution providers next year. See original article on CRN.com
Issue: 277 | March, 2010