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ADC to pay $169 million for LGC Wireless

Oct 23, 2007 12:33 PM, By Donny Jackson

In-building wireless solutions provider LGC Wireless today announced it has agreed to be acquired by established telecom vendor ADC for $169 million in cash and other considerations.

Expected to close in about 45 days, the deal will let ADC integrate the LGC in-building coverage and capacity capabilities into the ADC All-IP Radio Access Network (IP RAN). Meanwhile, LGC will have access to the financial resources of a large public company, LGC Wireless President and CEO Ian Sugarbroad said.

“It’s always a strain for a private company to grow rapidly with venture capital, because the cost of raising venture capital is high,” Sugarbroad said during an interview with MRT. “[With ADC’s financial resources], I think there are opportunities to get to places we wouldn’t get quicker. I think there’s opportunities to invest in research and development, which we probably would not opt to do, because of the risk.”

Sugarbroad emphasized that the ADC and LGC Wireless technologies are “complementary” and will provide customers with the opportunity to buy from a “one-stop shop” for outdoor and indoor coverage solutions, noting that LGC Wireless recently announced its indoor solutions for WiMAX deployments. Hilton Nicholson, president of ADC’s active infrastructure division, expressed a similar sentiment.

“LGC’s technology meshes very well with our existing lines of networking systems, and we believe that this acquisition will make our wireless division a far more significant contributor to overall corporate revenue,” Nicholson said in a prepared statement. “With its complementary culture and shared mission of delivering scalable, high-performance, and cost-efficient networking systems, LGC also brings us a highly talented team that will accelerate our efforts to innovate with our IP RAN solutions.”

Sugarbroad said LGC Wireless personnel welcomed news of the deal and he believes most will choose to remain with ADC.

“I just stepped out of the employee meeting, and everyone was very positive—there was lots of applause and slapping on the back,” he said. “I think people feel pretty good about the fact that we built a company from nothing to $170 million.”