Arris gets UK court approval, setting $2.1B Pace acquisition to close Jan. 4

Arris announced that the High Court of Justice in England and Wales has conditionally approved its $2.1 billion acquisition of Pace, setting up the deal to close on Jan. 4.

The conditions, according to Arris, simply boil down to abiding by the mandatory waiting period set by regulators in Brazil to close the deal. That waiting period ends on Dec. 22.

Upon closure, Arris' new parent company, Arris International, will begin trading on the NASDAQ under the symbol "ARRS."

The deal has already secured approval from the Department of Justice in the U.S.

Arris will retain its Suwanee, Ga., headquarters as it operates the global company, which will be 76 percent controlled by Arris shareholders. 

Merging the world's two largest set-top makers, Arris' $2.1 billion acquisition of Pace offers insulation from a volatile U.S. pay-TV market, as well as the unpredictable revenue streams of the disparate CPE product cycles, analysts say.

"The North American market is going to be challenging this year, as capex budgets are reduced or are at best flat," said Jeff Heynen, formerly principal analyst for broadband access and pay-TV for research company Infonetics, back in April when the deal was announced. "Arris needed to add in more international exposure as well as exposure beyond the cable space to help reduce the risk of reduced spending among its core North American customer base on the STB side of the business."

The merger comes nearly two three years after Arris bought Motorola's STB business, resulting in a company that controlled 25 percent of global pay-TV STB and CPE market last year. It was followed by Technicolor's move to acquire Cisco's CPE business. Technicolor is now the No. 2 set-top and modem maker, accounting for 14 percent of the market. 

For more:
- read this Arris press release

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