CommScope scoops CASA auction
May 31, 2024
CommScope has won the auction for busted rival Casa System’s cable network assets with a knockout $45.1 million (€41.4m) bid. That price was more than twice the $20 million tabled in April by Canadian software company Vecima Networks.
Vecima, which had hoped Casa’s assets would accelerate its quest to run down Harmonic in the race for cable network virtualisation, said it has filed a backup bid of $44.95 million.
The sale is part of a piece-by-piece bankruptcy court auction that has also seen Casa’s 5G mobile core and RAN assets sold and its NetComm provider of fibre access.
North Carolina-based CommScope needs to recover momentum after its debt fuelled $7.4 billion purchase of cable tech rival Arris.
“As a leader in the cable industry, we are quite pleased by the opportunity to acquire Casa’s cloud-native network solutions,” CommScope CEO Chuck Treadway said. “Adding Casa’s technology to our portfolio will allow us to provide a seamless transition for our combined customer base that utilizes both integrated and virtual CMTS products. This transaction provides stability to Casa’s customers while allowing CommScope to further grow our customer base as we enable customers to migrate to Distributed Access Architecture solutions on their own timeline.”
Vecima said: “The auction was a competitive daylong process that consisted of multiple rounds of bidding. Vecima conducted extensive due diligence prior to the auction and, based on those insights, made the decision at the end of the auction not to increase its bid any further when the proposed price was no longer reasonably supported by Vecima’s valuation of the assets.”