Scientific-Atlanta Buys Broadband Manufacturer

BarcoNet is a manufacturer of such broadband broadcast equipment as MPEG decoders, transceivers, CODECs, converters, routers, and switches. Scientific-Atlanta has bought most but not all of the company's stock.

by ISP-Planet Staff [January 3, 2002]

Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. (NYSE: SFA) announced that at the closing of its tender offer on December 21, 2001, all convertible bonds, 256,604 warrants (99.4 percent), and 27,561,827 shares (92.4 percent) of BarcoNet had been offered.

On January 3, 2002, Scientific-Atlanta will purchase all of these tendered securities in accordance with the terms of the tender offer for approximately $142 million in cash.

The offering will be re-opened from January 14 to February 1, 2002. If Scientific-Atlanta is successful in acquiring at least 95 percent of the shares of BarcoNet, the company intends to do a squeeze-out to acquire all remaining equity securities.

In a squeeze-out, those who own 95 percent of the stock of a target (the amount of stock required can vary) buy out all remaining stock at a fixed price, with the price often determined by an independent arbitrator.

BarcoNet is a provider of multimedia distribution solutions for broadband and broadcast applications. BarcoNet's core activities include headends for integrated multimedia services, fiber optic backbones, network management, and digital TV distribution.

BarcoNet's systems are currently used by many of the world's largest broadband operators, in cable as well as terrestrial, telecom, satellite, and wireless applications.

— End