Occam agrees to $171M acquisition
Goleta-based Occam Networks, a supplier of broadband backbone equipment to rural telecommunications companies, has agreed to be bought by a Northern California company in a $171 million cash and stock deal.
The acquisition by Petaluma-based Calix values Occam’s stock at about $7.75 a share, according to an announcement issued by Occam on Sept. 16. Shares closed at $5.29 on Sept. 15 but have shot up to near the deal value since then.
Occam investors will get about $3.83 in cash for each share they own, plus about one-third share of Calix’s common stock. After the deal, Occam investors would own between 16.5 percent and 18.9 percent of Calix’s common stock. In addition, one non-management member of the current Occam board of directors is expected to be appointed to serve on the Calix board, Occam said.
“Occam Networks has become synonymous with IP and Ethernet access innovation, yet with the rate of change in our industry continuing to increase, we were looking for ways to accelerate our rate of innovation,” Occam President and CEO Bob Howard-Anderson said in the news release.
Both Occam and Calix make broadband networking equipment for telecommunications companies. Both firms’ equipment can send high-speed Internet data over fiber or copper networks.
Occam had 186 full-time employees at the end of last year. The company has about 380 broadband providers as clients and brought in revenue of $23.7 million in the second quarter, up from $21 million the year before.
Analysts have expected the company to receive a boost from federal government efforts to bring broadband Internet to more Americans’ homes. The first big contract came this summer, when Occam inked a deal to supply equipment for a $101 million project to bring broadband access to rural Western Kansas.
But Occam has not seen a yearly profit since 2006. It lost $8.9 million in 2009, $6.7 million in 2008 and $10.4 million in 2007.
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