3Com (COMS) has reported that its acquisition of Huawei Technologies' 49% stake in H3C for US$882 million officially closed and 3Com now owns 100% of the China-based company.
"With 100% ownership of H3C, 3Com significantly improves its long term growth profile and expands its global technology leadership position," said Edgar Masri, 3Com president and CEO. "With the transaction behind us, we can now focus our complete attention on integrating our sales and marketing efforts in Asia Pacific, capitalizing on H3C's growth in China, and continuing to make progress in improving the financial performance of the combined company."
To fund the transaction and related fees and expenses, 3Com used approximately US$470 million of cash from its balance sheet and approximately US$430 million from a senior secured bank loan at its H3C segment.
3Com won the right to acquire the remaining stake in H3C through a bidding process that ended on November 28, 2006 and received the final required approval on March 22, 2007. Additionally, members of H3C's management team have signed two-year employment contracts that go into effect with the closing.
