By Sneha Shankar - Zebra Technologies Corp. NASDAQ:ZBRA agreed to buy Motorola Solutions Inc.’s NYSE:MSI enterprise business for $3.45 billion in an all-cash transaction, the companies said in a joint statement Tuesday.
The Lincolnshire, Ill.-based Zebra Technologies, which is into barcode printing and voice-recognition technologies, announced that the acquisition will be funded with about $200 million in cash and the remaining $3.25 billion will be raised through a new credit facility and by issuing taking on new debt. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2014 and will help the company to expand into segments including retail, transportation and logistics, and manufacturing, where Schaumburg, Ill. based Motorola Solutions has been Zebra's competitor.
"The Enterprise business will generate significant value for our shareholders by driving further product innovation and deeper engagement with our customers and partners. It positions Zebra as a leading technology innovator, with the accelerating convergence of mobility, data analytics and cloud computing," Anders Gustafsson, Zebra’s CEO, said in a statement.
The combined business of Zebra and Motorola Solutions is expected to have linkages with companies in more than 100 countries, with approximately 4,500 U.S. and international patents issued and pending.
"This transaction will enable us to further sharpen our strategic focus on providing mission-critical solutions for our government and public safety customers. Upon closing of the transaction, we intend to return the proceeds to our shareholders in a timely fashion,” Greg Brown, chairman and CEO of Motorola Solutions, said in the statement.
While Motorola Solutions, which became a standalone business in 2011, had revenues of $2.5 billion last year (excluding sales of iDEN products) while Zebra generated $1 billion in sales, and plans to add about 4,500 employees once the transaction is complete. Zebra currently employs 2,544 people while Motorola Solutions employs 21,000 people.