All quiet on the Eastern front

Posted by on June 22, 2011

Contact: Ben Kolada In contrast to the surge in deal flow that we’ve seen so far this year, IT giant IBM has been extremely muted. So far this year the Armonk, New York-based company has announced only one deal – the pickup of real estate and facilities management vendor Tririga in March for an undisclosed [...]

US telcos feeling the squeeze

Posted by on May 4, 2011

Contact: Ben Kolada Amid double-digit revenue growth in the cloud infrastructure market, US telcos are increasingly buying their way into this industry in an effort to stem losses in their traditional wireline businesses. However, just as the hosting and colocation sectors are growing rapidly, so too are the major players being acquired. So far this [...]

Hosters lose another telco acquirer

Posted by on April 12, 2011

Contact: Ben Kolada In the latest billion-dollar-plus telco transaction, Level 3 Communications has announced that it is acquiring Global Crossing in an all-stock deal worth $1.9bn. (The actual price of the acquisition – the largest we’ve recorded for Level 3 – is closer to $3bn when Global Crossing’s debt is included.) And while the deal [...]

HP’s ‘cloudy’ strategic vision

Posted by on March 15, 2011

Contact: Brenon Daly Under Mark Hurd, Hewlett-Packard looked to bulk up all of its divisions through M&A. But software was definitely an afterthought. Hurd’s most-notable transaction, of course, was the $13.9bn purchase of services giant EDS. In his half-decade at the helm, Hurd also sprinkled in deals for companies selling gear for printing, storage and [...]

Facebook dives into mobile

Posted by on January 31, 2011

Contact: Jarrett Streebin In its eighth acquisition in the last six months, Facebook picked up Seattle-based rel8tion. The startup is only nine months old and still in stealth mode, but it appears to be focused on targeted mobile advertising using location and demographics – data that Facebook has tons of. With 200 million active mobile users [...]

PAETEC’s risky business

Posted by on September 27, 2010

Contact: Ben Kolada As the communications industry continues to consolidate and the pool of desirable targets dries up, the remaining buyers appear to be stretching a bit in their M&A moves. But even within that, PAETEC’s recent pickup of Cavalier Telephone looks to us like the riskiest telecom acquisition we’ve seen in the past year. [...]

Fire-eating Barracuda

Posted by on June 27, 2008

While not a done deal, Barracuda Networks’ new bid of $8.25 for each share of Sourcefire seems to be closer to the level the market was valuing the Snort shop. Nearly a month ago, the aptly named Barracuda swarmed Sourcefire with an unsolicited bid of $7.50 per share, which worked out to an equity value [...]