Cisco + TANDBERG See $34 Billion Collaboration Market

In a bid to consolidate its position in telepresence and teleconferencing, Cisco launched a cash tender offer to purchase all the outstanding shares of TANDBERG for 153.5 Norwegian Kroner per share for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $3.0 billion. This represents an 11.0% premium to the previous day closing price of TANDBERG's stock, and a 25.2% premium to the 3-month volume weighted average closing price for TANDBERG's stock.


TANDBERG's Board of Directors is supporting the Cisco bid. Cisco expects the acquisition to be accretive to its non-GAAP earnings in fiscal year 2011.


TANDBERG's video endpoints and network infrastructure solution will be integrated into Cisco's collaboration architecture. This will enable intercompany and multi-vendor interoperability and ease of use across the full product portfolio -- from desktop to immersive, multi-screen TelePresence.


Cisco plans to position TANDBERG's Norway operations as a European center of video excellence alongside its own Service Provider video team in Kortrijk, Belgium.


"Cisco and TANDBERG have remarkably similar cultures and a shared vision to change the way the world works through collaboration and video communications technologies," said Cisco Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Chambers. "Collaboration is a $34 billion market and is growing rapidly -- enabled by networked Web 2.0 technologies. This acquisition showcases Cisco's financial strength and ability to quickly capture key market transitions for growth."http://www.cisco.com
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