Viavi Solutions has announced its intention to acquire the Test and Measurement (T&M) business of Cobham plc for $455 million cash. The acquisition has been approved by the Board of Directors of both the company and is expected to close during the second half of VIAVI’s fiscal year 2018, subject to obtaining clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, as well as other customary closing conditions.
The transaction will significantly strengthens VIAVI’s competitive position in 5G deployments and diversify the company's portfolio to support the military, public safety and avionics test markets. Cobham AvComm and Wireless T&M have served the military, public safety and aviation markets for decades with its trusted land-mobile radio and avionics test solutions. The business generated more than $200 million of revenues in calendar year 2017.
According to Viavi, the merger is another step in the company’s NSE strategy of driving operational scale and monetizing its NOL assets. Upon closing, the transaction is expected to be meaningfully accretive to VIAVI’s free cash flow and non-GAAP earnings per share and monetize net operating losses (NOLs).
