In looking back, the news of an impending Cisco-TANDBERG acquisition broke on October 1, immediately shaking up the landscape of the video communications industry. After a little more than two months of negotiations, 91% of TANDBERG shareholders have now accepted Cisco’s offer, exceeding the 90% condition outlined for the deal to go through.

When the initial proposition was made, only 30% of shareholders were in favor of the $3B offer, with percentages jumping to 40% when the figures increased to approximately $3.4B in late November.

As the second largest producer of video conferencing equipment, TANDBERG has reported an increase in momentum since October, introducing new endpoints and infrastructure products. With the acquisition, Cisco will now have the leverage to successfully sell lower-cost products to a wide range of markets.

Among the industry feedback:

• “Tandberg has very strong sales partners in videoconferencing that Cisco will benefit from.” – Wainhouse Research
• “The merger of the two companies will likely create an unstoppable force…This acquisition validates that video communications is well on its way to becoming a key enterprise communications application all the way from desktop to telepresence.”  - Frost & Sullivan
• This development continues to validate that video communications is quickly becoming a critical application for companies, and is a key component of any enterprise’s Unified Communications strategy.  – Michael Brandofino, Executive Vice President of Video Communications and Unified Collaboration, AVI-SPL

What are your thoughts on the acquisition?

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The financial badminton match between Cisco and TANDBERG seems to be drawing to a close. Cisco has once again revised its offer (which is now up to around $3.4B) to purchase the videoconferencing leader, placing the birdie back in TANDBERG shareholders’ court. In addition to increasing the cash offer, Cisco has also offered to increase the interest payable on the offer price to a rate of 3.00% from its previous offer of 1.75%. According to a news release by Cisco, “this revised offer represents Cisco’s final price for this transaction.”

A total of more than 30% of shareholders have pre-accepted this offer based on the new price. These, combined with the previously announced acceptances, push the total to more than 40% acceptance of the sale. The rest of TANDBERG’s shareholders have until Dec. 1 to make a final decision.

Like many others in the AV industry, we’ll be watching from the sidelines, waiting for the birdie to fall.

To read Cisco’s full release, click here.

TANDBERG ’s shareholders thought $3 billion was too low of a bid to purchase the videoconferencing technology leader. It was originally reported that Cisco purchased TANDBERG in early October. Some analysts are saying Cisco has funds to increase the offer. Maybe Cisco will just purchase a smaller share? How does this affect Polycom and other TANDBERG competitors?

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