ADTRAN-ADVA's metro-access play
ADTRAN and ADVA have agreed to merge after a long courtship.
The two CEOs have spoken regularly over the years but several developments spurred them to act.
The merger combines ADTRAN’s expertise in access technologies with ADVA’s metro wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) know-how to create a ‘metro-core-to-door’ company with revenues of $1.2 billion.
As such, the merger promises to double their size and networking skills. Yet the stock market appeared underwhelmed by the announcement, with ADTRAN’s shares down 16% for the rest of the week after the deal was announced.
Market research analysts, however, are more upbeat.
“ADTRAN and ADVA have a better path forward together than separately,” said John Lively, principal analyst at LightCounting Market Research, in a research note.
The deal is expected to close in the second or third quarter of 2022 but only after several hurdles are overcome in what is described as a complex deal.