Zebra Technologies announced on Monday that is has completed its previously announced acquisition of Motorola Solutions’ Enterprise business for $3.45 billion in cash. The transaction was funded with $200 million cash on hand and $3.25 billion in new debt.
In a statement, Zebra said the acquisition expands and strengthens their product portfolio, geographic reach, go-to-market channels and industries served. The combined organization has about 20,000 channel partners in more than 100 countries, and approximately 4,300 U.S. and international patents issued and pending.
"This transformative acquisition creates one company with unparalleled capabilities and leading global brands in our industry," said Anders Gustafsson, Zebra's chief executive officer. "Our scope and scale make us a more strategic business partner to our customers. We are well positioned to serve our businesses with solutions and services that help them achieve greater visibility for better enterprise asset intelligence. Our efforts are supported by superior global go-to-market channels and the most talented people in the industry. Together, we can provide the building blocks of Internet of Things solutions, as customers worldwide increasingly take advantage of data analytics and mobility to improve business performance."
"With the successful close of this transaction, Motorola Solutions is now singularly focused on the very core that our company was founded and built upon – a business that continues to help build safer cities and thriving businesses around the world through innovative mission-critical communications solutions," said Greg Brown, Motorola Solutions chairman and CEO. "Motorola Solutions is well-positioned for growth and success, building on our industry leadership, unrivaled brand, product development and customer relationships."
As part of the sale, approximately 4,500 Motorola Solutions employees from locations throughout the world will transfer to Zebra.
“There is existing benefits to our customers and us. As I say, it certainly gives our customers one throat to choke when they’re deploying various kinds of automatic identification solutions – whether it is barcode or RFID. When they’re tracking assets in almost any environment there is either a Zebra or Motorola solution there, so we really now become part of the same company and our customers will have one partner to work with and I think that’s one of the most important reasons to do this,” Phil Gerskovich, senior vice president at Zebra, told SIW when the acquisition was first announced earlier this year. Click here to read our interview with Gerskovich in its entirety.