LONDON :U.S. IT communications specialist Viavi Solutions is considering whether it could make another bid for telecoms testing group Spirent Communications if a takeover by its rival Keysight Technologies fails, sources familiar with the matter said.
Keysight outbid Viavi in March with an all-cash offer valuing Spirent at $1.5 billion, in a deal which is now in the process of being approved.
But Spirent shares are trading at a 14.5 per cent discount to Keysight’s 201.50 pence offer price, which some analysts say reflects concern over the bidder’s ability to get competition approval, said two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Viavi would have to get consent from UK takeover regulator to make another bid as UK takeover rules prevent it from doing so for 12 months from when its previous offer lapsed in May.
Viavi, Keysight and Spirent declined to comment.
Shares in Spirent turned positive and rose as much as 4 per cent to 179 pence following the report before levelling off at 174.5 pence per share.
At the time of its bid, Keysight’s offer represented a premium of 85.9 per cent to London-listed Spirent’s closing price of 108.4 pence on March 4, well above Viavi’s 61.4 per cent premium.
Keysight has said it expects its takeover of Spirent, which would combine “complementary” products and lead to “strategic” synergies, to be approved before the end of April next year.
Spirent said in August that both it and Keysight were working with U.S. and European authorities to gain anti-trust approval in expectation of the deal closing before then too.
Keysight signed a co-operation agreement which includes a ‘Hell-or-High-Water’ commitment to support efforts to secure regulatory approval.
Viavi in its original offer said that relative to Keysight it had “limited business overlap with Spirent”, and that its rival’s proposed combination would limit customer choice.
Regulators
