A £1.1bn takeover at UK tech firm Spirent has been given the green light by the Competition and Markets Authority.
Spirent’s acquisition by California-based Keysight Technologies, Inc. has moved a step closer after it was unconditionally cleared by the UK regulator.
Despite being agreed in March, Reuters reported that the deal was under threat as Spirent’s shares were trading significantly lower than the offer from Keysight.
However the CMA has approved the deal nonetheless. The parties will now seek approval for the deal from respective authorities in the US and China.
Spirent – led by CEO Eric Updyke (pictured) – said it expects the swoop to become effective before the end of July.
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It is the latest twist in the takeover saga at Spirent, listed on the London Stock Exchange for more than 30 years.
Headquartered in Crawley, Sussex, the firm employs more than 1,500 people across 11 global offices and serves approximately 1,100 customers in over 50 countries. It provides products, services and managed solutions that address the test, assurance and automation challenges of technologies including 5G, software-defined wide area networks, cloud and autonomous vehicles.
Last year Spirent accepted a £1bn bid from Viavi, which is based in Arizona and listed on New York’s Nasdaq exchange, before instead opting for the rival Keysight offer as a “superior proposition”.
This was despite the fact that Spirent had reported an 80% drop in annual pre-tax profits to around £18m – down from £90.4m in 2022 – and revenues of £374m compared with £479m in the prior year.
Viavi then agreed a deal to acquire two arms of Spirent’s business for around £335m once the Keysight deal has gone through
The business lines it will acquire are focused on high speed ethernet and network security.
The parties said the transaction provides a complementary addition to Viavi’s ethernet testing platform.