CommScope to boost global work force by more than half in $3B deal

By KEN ELKINS, Senior Staff Writer
CHARLOTTE BUSINESS JOURNAL 
Jan 28, 2015, 11:39am EST Updated Jan 29, 2015, 10:28am EST

CommScope Holding Co. Inc. of Hickory is spending $3 billion to buy the three big businesses of TE Connectivity.

The deal will add 10,000 employees to CommScope's current worldwide work force of 12,000. CommScope (NASDAQ:COMM) has about 1,600 employees in Catawba County. More than 60 TE Connectivity (NYSE:TE) facilities are included in the purchase.

Hickory will remain the home of CommScope after the deal closes in late 2015, and CEO Eddie Edwards will keep his job at the expanded company.

CommScope gets the broadband Internet, wireless connectivity and telecom supply units of TE Connectivity. CommScope says its strength in all three markets will also grow with the deal, CommScope says.

TE Connectivity brings with it 7,000 patents and lots of expertise in fiber technology, CommScope says.

The TE Connectivity deal "will bring top talent, strong customer relationships in growing markets and a robust pipeline of innovations" to CommScope, Edwards says in a news release about the purchase.

CommScope expects to save $150 million annually through synergies by the third year of the combination, of which $50 million in savings is expected to come in the first year.

CommScope is financing the deal with debt that includes loans from J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, BofA Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo.

The stock market apparently approves of the deal. Shares in CommScope jumped 8 percent to $27.65 per share in trading during the late morning. That's up from the Tuesday closing price of $25.25 per share.

Earlier in the morning, CommScope shares spiked at $28.57, an 11 percent increase and a 52-week high for the stock.