ADB Group has acquired Pirelli Broadband Solutions, announcing that the purchase would make a significant contribution to its overall business in 2011.
ADB, which had recently been linked with the acquisition of the Milan-based company, will pay €14 million cash together with 400,000 shares in ADB Holdings SA worth €22 million at current prices. When Pirelli Broadband’s current cash position is included the total value of the deal is €30 million.
Pirelli Broadband Solutions supplies broadband gateways, IPTV set-top boxes, fixed/mobile convergence devices and broadband systems management solutions to telecom operators in Europe and Latin America. It is also among the top four vendors of broadband access devices in EMEA. Its product line includes broadband access devices such x-DSL and fiber-to-home gateways, IPTV and hybrid set-top boxes, and software for the broadband platforms.
“It’s taking another end of the spectrum, the broadband, managed network, IP-based expertise, and bringing it together with our broadcast unmanaged network expertise to achieve the strategy we have been explaining over the past few years, Francois Pogodalla, CEO, ADB, told a press call, pointing to the ability of the Pirelli technology to complete the delivery of a unified service platform. “We are now absolutely comparable with the biggest competitors in the market. Most of our competitors have to rely on somebody else’s software, but we have the capability to put it into one. If believe the experience in the home will need to be intergated and need to managed both from a consumer and operator experience”
Similar to the Pace acquisition of 2Wire, completed earlier this week, ADB’s purchase of Pirelli will give the company access to the TR-069 remote management protocol – a standard that is already gaining some traction among US cablenets as well as the telcos. Although Pirelli has a IPTV receiver business, Telecom Italia is a customer, 70% of revenues are derived from gateways. Pogodalla said plans to integrate the two companies had yet to be finalised, but that he would take advantage of synergies within R&D.
The company’s 2009 revenue was €132 million, while its first-half 2010 revenue reached around €58 million.
