CommScope to buy Arris for $7.4bn

Arris is active in the customer premises equipment (CPE), network & cloud and enterprise networks markets. In the case of the latter, its presence has been recently bolstered through the $800m acquisition of Brocade's Ruckus Wireless and ICX Switch Business. The two parties expect that the transaction will close in the first half of 2019, subject to regulatory approvals and the consent of Arris shareholders.

As a result of the combined company’s increased scale, CommScope expects to achieve annual cost savings of at least $150 million within three years of the close of the acquisition, with $60m of these expected to be realised within the first year. It will have approximately 15,000 patents, around $800m in annual R&D investments and will serve customers in more than 150 countries.

“After a comprehensive evaluation of our business and the evolving industry we operate in, we are confident that combining with ARRIS is the best path forward for CommScope to grow and provide the greatest returns for shareholders,” said Eddie Edwards, president and CEO, CommScope. “CommScope and ARRIS will bring together a unique set of complementary assets and capabilities that enable end-to-end wired and wireless communications infrastructure solutions that neither company could otherwise achieve on its own. With ARRIS, we will access new and growing markets, and have greater technology, solutions and employee talent that will provide additional value and benefit to our customers and partners.