Cabletron Systems Inc, Rochester, New Hampshire, – the company which always said it wouldn’t acquire anyone – yesterday bought Network Express Inc, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Recently it has been fashionable for US networking equipment companies to acquire their ISDN expertise in Europe, but so many firms have been bought that the well is just about dry, so Cabletron is having to buy one of those acquirers. Last autumn, Network Express Inc bought Fivermere Ltd of Aldershot, UK for $10m cash and some new shares (CI No 2,781); now Network Express is falling to Cabletron, which wants its ISDN internetworking skills and technology. Cabletron will pay 0.1388 of a share for each Network Express, apparently a discount to the market price, valuing each share at $10.95 against $12.25 in the market. Cabletron reckons the deal to be worth between $113m and $115m. Network Express supplies high-speed switched access communications products for firms seeking to cut costs via dial-up services such as ISDN.
