Cisco share price rises as it snaps up London-based software company Acano for $700m
London-based conferencing software company Acano is to be snapped up by Cisco for a cool $700m (£459m), the US tech company said today.
Cisco hopes the move will help it capitalise on what the company describes as a massive shift in the video connection market whereby "customers want the ability to easily connect from anywhere, from dedicated hardware endpoints to sharing video on a mobile phone".
The company will pay for the acquisition in cash and equity awards, as well as additional retention-based incentives for Acano employees who join Cisco.
"People, companies and organisations are more geographically dispersed than ever before, and collaboration is essential to helping teams increase productivity and drive growth,” said Rob Salvagno, vice president, Cisco corporate development.
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“Acano’s innovations make it easier for customers to collaborate when, where and how they want. Together, we will help our customers to extend collaboration to every room, every screen and every user.”
The acquisition is expected to complete in the third quarter of next year, subject to regulatory approval.
Cisco's revenue rose 3.6 per cent to $12.7bn in the three months to October, led largely by its cloud business.
The Nasdaq-listed companies shares were last up 1.32 per cent to $27.73 per share.