SAN JOSE, Calif.—Oclaro Inc., a provider of optical communications and laser technology, said Monday (March 26) it agreed to merge with optical module and components vendor Opnext Inc. in an all stock deal.
Under the terms of the deal, Opnext shareholders will receive 0.42 shares of Oclaro for every share of Opnext they own, the companies said.
The merged company will boast more than 30 years of combined telecom and datacom optical technology innovation, according to the companies.
The combined company will be led by Alain Couder, currently chairman and CEO of Oclaro, who will hold the same positions in the merger company. Harry Bosco, currently Opnext's president, chairman and CEO, will join the combined company's board of directors after the acquisition closes, the companies said.
"Our respective customers want to work with fewer, more strategic suppliers who can deliver the breadth of technologies they need," Couder said through a statement. Couder said the merger would enable the combined company to leverage Oclara and Opnext's complementary and vertically-integrated product portfolios, increasing the combined company's value to customers and shareholders.
Data-intensive applications such as video and cloud computing and the proliferation of mobile devices are driving the need for increased performance and bandwidth throughout the core optical networks, at the heart of the world's Internet traffic, the companies said. These trends are also forcing enterprises and data centers to upgrade and deploy new data communications infrastructures, the companies said.
As a result, telecom and datacom networks—which have traditionally been separate—are converging using optical networking technologies from companies such as Opnext and Oclaro, the companies said.