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Cisco buys China cable box maker DVN
By siliconindia
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Wednesday, 04 November 2009, 17:08 IST |
2 Comments
San Francisco: Networking giant Cisco has inked a deal to buy Hong Kong-based DVN Holdings, bolstering its place in the China market and adding to a growing list of acquisitions. The value of the deal is estimated at $44.5 million, with Cisco paying 17.5 million dollars up front and the rest of the purchase price to be doled out during the coming four years based on targeted sales goals.
The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of next year, pending approval by regulators and DVN shareholders, according to the details released by Cisco. Cisco and DVN combining resources will ensure that Chinese consumers continue to receive superior digital services today and are provided with world-class advanced technologies moving forward," said Terry Lui, CEO of DVN. "Cisco has demonstrated a strong commitment to the Chinese market, and I look forward to working with them as part of our ongoing alliance."
Liu will continue to run DVN, a maker of boxes for delivering digital broadcasts and interactive online services to television sets in China. "Cisco and DVN have similar cultures that emphasize video innovation and a shared vision to enable multi-media connected homes across China," said Ken Klaer, General Manager of Cisco's International Cable Business Unit.
"With this acquisition, Cisco will be well positioned to engage in the largest digital transformation opportunity in the world today." The Chinese cable market is reportedly the largest in the world with 160 million subscribers and is predicted to grow to as many as 200 million over the next three to five years.
Approximately one-third of the China market has converted to digital cable and the Chinese government has mandated full digitization by 2015, according to Cisco.
DVN is the latest in a series of acquisitions by Cisco. Last week, Cisco announced that it had agreed to buy Web security company ScanSafe for some $183 million. Earlier in October, Cisco bid $3 billion for Norwegian video conference company Tandberg and agreed to buy wireless equipment maker Starent Networks for $2.9 billion.
In March, Cisco bought Pure Digital Technologies, maker of the Flip Video camcorder and it purchased Tidal Software the following month.
