Business

Bain Capital Partners to buy out 3Com
by Delia Cruceru

The U.S. network equipment maker and IBM's biggest partner in VoIP telephony software, 3Com will be acquired for $2.2 billion by Bain Capital Partners, a large private equity firm, and Huawei Technologies, a Chinese manufacturer of telecommunications equipment. According to The Wall Street Journal the offer values 3Com at more than $5 per share, citing a person familiar with the matter. 3Com was founded in 1979 by Bob Metcalfe who invented Ethernet networking that linked computers turning it into a successful company. In 1997 they purchased the modem maker U.S. Robotics for $6.6 billion in a try to take on networking giant Cisco Systems. "By going private, 3Com also hopes to free itself from markets' short-term financial expectations" said Edgar Masri, president and chief executive of the Marlborough, Mass.-based company. "As a private company, we will be able to focus on our long-term strategic objectives." Marsi didn't disclosed what stake Huawei will have in 3Com, an issue discussed by U.S. politicians, complaining about Chinese firms buying stakes of U.S. companies, particularly technology firms. "For Huawei, maybe they just rethought whether it was smart to lose out in the joint venture bidding," said Rich Smith, an analyst with The Motley Fool, referring to the joint venture H3C, bought by 3Com from Huawei with $882 million for 49 pct. in November 2006. On the Wall Street shares for 3Com rose 32.6 percent to $4.88 in premarket trade.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070928/ap_on_hi_te/3com_buyout;_ylt=AlsPX8KsxqODA_avjFcf2dms0NUE

by Delia Cruceru for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

posted by Blog TechSource @ 3:52 PM