Viavi Solutions will get part of Spirent Communications after all: Its high-speed Ethernet and network security business
As Keysight Technologies continues to work toward its acquisition of Spirent Communications, it will divest some of Spirent’s assets. Keysight this week announced a buyer for those assets, which encompass Spirent’s high-speed Ethernet and network security business: Viavi Solutions, which had competed with Keysight to acquire Spirent, but ultimately lost.
Keysight had outbid Viavi Solutions’ $1.3 billion purchase offer for Spirent Communications in the spring of 2024, with an offer of nearly $1.5 billion.
Now, Viavi will pay $425 million for the Spirent assets, via a loan being financed by Wells Fargo. The purchase of Spirent’s assets is expected to close during the second quarter, soon after Keysight’s acquisition of Spirent officially closes; that transaction is expected around the end of April 2025.
“This transaction represents another step in our NSE growth strategy,” said Oleg Khaykin, president and CEO of Viavi Solutions, in a statement. “For the past 30 years, Spirent’s high-speed Ethernet and network security business has facilitated end-to-end test and validation of network performance. This transaction brings to Viavi an advanced ethernet test and security product portfolio in the NEMs, enterprise, service providers, data center ecosystem and government segments.”
Viavi said in a release that the acquisition of the Spirent businesses are a “complementary addition to Viavi’s ethernet testing platform” and that it provides an “immediate infusion of software, hardware and protocol domain expertise across network layers to enhance Viavi’s engagement in the growing Ethernet, Security, AI, and digital infrastructure end markets.”
Viavi said in a release that it expects the addition of Spirent’s Ethernet and network security business to contribute towards earnings per share 12 months after closing.
