QUEBEC CITY – EXFO Inc. is buying a 33.1% equity stake in Astellia, with the intent to acquire the remaining equity in the French network and subscriber intelligence provider.
The Canadian network test and monitoring technology maker said Thursday that it will acquire the founding shareholders shares, representing an equity stake of 25.4%. EXFO also signed an agreement with Isatis Capital to acquire a majority of its shares, representing an equity stake of 7.7% and giving EXFO a total stake of 33.1% in Astellia's equity, representing a total amount of €8.6 million at a price of €10 per Astellia share.
Upon completion of these acquisitions and following the information and consultation process for Astellia's workers councils, EXFO will launch an all-cash voluntary public tender offer to acquire Astellia's remaining shares for the same price. The proposed public offer will remain subject to the approval of French foreign investment authorities and the supervision of Autorité des marchés financiers.
EXFO added that Astellia's Board of Directors has expressed its support for the firm offer and the agreements to be signed in order to complete a transaction that values the entirety of Astellia's equity (on a fully diluted basis) at approximately €25.9 million.
"This investment in Astellia is in line with our strategy to increase our critical mass and our client base, and to expand our addressable market in the global analytics and service assurance industry," said executive chairman of EXFO's board of directors, Germain Lamonde, in the announcement. "If our public tender offer is successful, we'll be able to combine Astellia's solutions and services with those of EXFO and become a world leader in the network monitoring and analytics sector and target growth opportunities such as network virtualization, 5G and the Internet of things."
