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Airspan Networks and ArelNet announce proposed acquisition of ArelNet for $8.7 million
December 29, 2004
BOCA RATON, Fla. and YAVNE, Israel -- Airspan Networks Inc. (Nasdaq:AIRN) and ArelNet Ltd. (TASE:ARNT) today announced that they have signed a letter of intent for the purchase by Airspan of all of the outstanding securities of ArelNet for an aggregate purchase price of $8,700,000, with $4,000,000 to be paid in cash and $4,700,000 in shares of Airspan.
Completion of the transaction announced today is subject to Airspan's completion of due diligence, the execution of definitive documentation, approval of ArelNet's shareholders and the District Court of Tel Aviv, and customary third party and regulatory approvals.
Airspan Networks is a leading provider of broadband wireless access solutions for both licensed and unlicensed operators worldwide. Airspan's current generation of products includes systems that can support voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services. The company has a broad portfolio of wireless access products, and is developing new products that are compliant with the new IEEE 802.16-2004 standard (WiMAX), and upgradeable to the 802.16e version of the standard. Airspan is a founding member of the WiMAX Forum. Airspan has deployed networks with capacity exceeding 1.5 million lines worldwide.
ArelNet Ltd. is a pioneer in VoIP network infrastructure equipment and solutions, including soft switches and gateways supporting all major VoIP standards. ArelNet has extensive experience worldwide, having installed networks with capacities exceeding two billion minutes per year.
Upon completion of the transaction, Airspan's leadership position in wireless VoIP and WiMAX will be reinforced by enabling the development of carrier-grade voice telephony solutions using ArelNet's switching and gateway technologies in the new WiMAX broadband data system. For operators, voice will be an important WiMAX system service, and Airspan soon expects to be able to offer them an end-to-end solution to ensure that the quality of service provided by their networks is at a level consistent with that provided by traditional telco voice services.
Eric Stonestrom, Airspan's President and CEO, commented on the transaction: "We believe that voice services are a significant part of the overall WiMAX business case for operators, and our focus in this acquisition is to be able to offer the strongest Voice-Enabled product portfolio in the industry. ArelNet's current product offerings, development roadmap, and track record in innovation are expected to strengthen our market position in this important area when we introduce our WiMAX products in the second half of 2005. We expect the investment to be accretive in 2005, but significant contribution to our revenues will occur only when we introduce our new WiMAX products."
Heli (Rachel) Ben Nun, ArelNet's CEO, commented on the transaction: "We are very pleased to be combining ArelNet with Airspan. We believe we have achieved a great deal for our shareholders and are confident that the combined ArelNet-Airspan technologies will strengthen Airspan's product offerings."
Airspan Networks
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