M&A Activity

In the Wireless sector, equipment providers made up the bulk of Wireless M&A activity during the quarter. Cisco Systems, Inc. acquired Navini Networks Inc. for $330 million in cash and assumed options. Navini developed WIMAX technologies for wireless broadband networks.

Mobile sector M&A continued to grow with Qualcomm acquiring two companies, SoftMax for an undisclosed sum and Firethorn Holdings, LLC for $210 million in an all cash deal. Firethorn has developed mobile payments technologies. The acquisition is part of a trend of hardware and telecom firms acquiring technologies that are closer to services, since hardware margins are under ongoing pressure.

M&A in the Communications sector also rose sharply from the previous quarter’s dearth of deals. Interwise was acquired BY AT&T Corp., which paid $121 million in cash for the teleconferencing technology company. Additionally, Oplink Communications, Inc. acquired the remaining 42% of Optical Communications Products Inc. that it did not own for $80 million in cash. Optical designs fiber-optic communications components and sub-systems.