by James E. Carroll
DZS secured $25 million in debt and equity funding and signed a definitive agreement to sell its Asia operations to Korea-based DASAN Networks Inc. (DNI), a significant stockholder of DZS, for $48 million, consisting of $5 million of cash and the elimination of approximately $43 million of debt.
The restructuring will transform DZS into a broadband networking and AI-driven software pure play focused on the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and Australia/New Zealand (ANZ) regions.
The company said it will focus on its Velocity access edge optical line terminal (OLT) portfolio; Saber optical edge reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM) dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) platform resulting from its Optelian acquisition in 2021; and its advanced AI-driven orchestration, automation, slicing, network assurance and WiFi management software portfolio resulting from the company’s acquisitions of RIFT and ASSIA software and R&D assets in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
“The $30 million of incremental working capital and the divestiture of our Asia business is expected to enable us to focus on our momentum with fiber-forward service providers across the Americas, EMEA and ANZ,” said Charlie Vogt, President and CEO, DZS. “The sale of our Asia business additionally enables us to transition to a more software-centric, AI-driven business model. Service providers in our new focused regions are embracing our open, standards-based, software-defined solutions and are increasingly transitioning away from Chinese vendors due to security concerns. During the second half of 2023, we secured several new multi-year, FTTX and 5G projects spanning our new Velocity V6 Access Edge, Saber 4400 Optical Edge, and AI-driven 5G slicing, automation and network orchestration software platforms. Our refined geographic focus allows us to scale common platforms across these regions and aligns with the numerous government stimulus initiatives designed to bring high speed digital communications services to unserved and underserved communities that are underway across these markets and expected to ramp during the next 12-18 months. We expect that our focus now on the Americas, EMEA and ANZ regions, with disruptive and differentiated access and optical networking solutions and a higher percentage of cloud-controlled software, will enable us to achieve improved gross margins by the end of 2024.”
Vogt concluded, “Although 2023 was a reset across our industry as service providers worked through post-pandemic supply and inventory challenges, DZS will enter 2024 right-sized, recapitalized and better positioned for long-term sustainable growth focusing on higher margin software-defined solutions and markets. While the past six months have been challenging due to our previously announced restatement process, as well as a global supply chain reset, our leadership team and financial advisors have worked very well together securing $25 million of working capital and through the proposed sale of our Asia business, an additional $5 million in cash together with the elimination of approximately $43 million of debt. Our employees are committed to the vision and strategy unveiled in 2020 and remain focused on our customers and partners as we enter 2024.”
