Motorola made an unsolicited tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding publicly held shares of its subsidiary Next Level Communications, a provider of integrated broadband access platforms. Motorola currently owns 74% of the outstanding common stock of Next Level. Motorola is offering to acquire the balance of Next Level’s common stock at $1.04 per share in cash, representing a 14.4% premium over the closing price on January 10, 2003 and a 28.6% premium over the average closing price for the last 90 trading days. The aggregate consideration for the outstanding Next Level shares would be $30 million. Motorola acquired shares of Next Level through its acquisition of General Instrument Corporation, which became the basis for the formation of its Broadband Communications Sector in January 2000. Motorola further noted that it has provided over $175 million in funding and $30 million in financial guarantees to its Next Level subsidiary since December 2000.
http://www.motorola.com/mediacenter/news/detail/0,1958,2266_1849_23,00.html
- In a separate statement, J. Michael Norris, the chairman and CEO of Next Level Communications, said Motorola has not discussed its unsolicited tender offer with Next Level management and its independent directors.
- Next Level’s flagship product is an ATM-based system that provides Digital Loop Carrier (DLC), Fiber-to-the-Curb (FTTC), Fiber- To-The-Node (FTTN), DSLAM and broadband access capabilities. Next Level also provides broadband management systems and customer premise equipment (CPE) for both high-speed data and video services.
- For Q3 2002, Next Level reported revenue of $12.3 million, down from $20.2 million for the third quarter of 2001. Net loss for the third quarter of 2002 was $20.5 million, or $0.26 per share, compared to a net loss of $27.8 million, or $0.32 per share in the third quarter of 2001.
- Next Level Communications was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Rohnert Park, California.