Under terms of the deal, Bellevue, Washington-based WatchMark will pay $35 million in cash and 3.2 million of its common stock, which will give ADC under 5% of WatchMark’s equity.

To take a holding in a private company suggests that ADC is confident that WatchMark will stage an IPO in the near future.

In the first nine months of its financial year to July 31, Metrica recorded an operating loss of $2 million on revenue of $21 million. ADC no longer sees Metrica as core to its business but WatchMark is anxious to grow a customer base that already includes AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless. Sprint Wireless, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless.