Motorola Solutions sells fixed-wireless businesses
Motorola Solutions this week sold its point-to-point Orthogon and point-to-multipoint Canopy business units to Vector Capital, a private equity firm that plans to operate the businesses under a new company name — Cambium Networks.
Under the spinout deal, Vector Capital purchased the wireless broadband businesses that boasted 220 employees and $170 million in 2010 revenue, according to Tama McWhinney of Motorola Solutions. For the most part, operations associated with the Orthogon and Canopy product lines will remain in place, said Rob Amen, a principal for Vector Capital who will be a Cambium Networks board member when the transaction is closed.
“There will be very little disruption — if any — to the employees, to the customers and to the business,” Amen said. “We’re taking all the employees associated with the business with us and giving them a fresh chance at running a higher growth, nimble, technology organization.
“Motorola is providing with adequate transition services, until we are fully grounded, so that customers will see no disruption.”
Vector Capital has executed corporate spinouts from large corporations before and is confident this one will be successful, Amen said.
“We’re attracted by the market and a chance to buy the leading products in the market through this divisional carveout of Motorola,” he said. “Any time you can get the best product in a growth market, that’s an opportunity that we jump at.”
For its part, Motorola decided to sell the Orthogon and Canopy units to focus on its core business strategy, McWhinney said.
“We really want to focus on our efforts to serve government and enterprise,” McWhinney said. “We felt that Vector Capital would give these businesses the targeted focus and funding that they need to have greater success.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it could be closed by the end of September, according to Amen and McWhinney.
