The cash and stock transaction, to close in 60-75 days, initially will be worth $416 million. If South Jordan-based LANDesk also meets certain unspecified business milestones, the deal's value could climb another $60 million, the companies said Thursday.
Other than being rechristened LANDesk: An Avocent Compay, no changes are anticipated in management or the 524-strong international work force; 275 employees are based in Utah.
"We will become a stand-alone business unit within Avocent, but will remain intact," said Dave Taylor, who helped found the company 21 years ago and will continue as senior vice president of marketing.
Also remaining will be President and CEO Joe Wang, who praised the acquisition as a major boost to growth plans for the company, which generates $65 million in revenue annually. Avocent, based in Huntsville, Ala., reported $370 million in revenues last year. It currently employs more than 1,300 workers.
"This agreement will greatly increase LANDesk's ability to execute its business strategy, preserve organizational identity, and become part of a well-capitalized enterprise with excellent prospects for accelerated growth," Wang said.
Steve Daly, Avocent's senior vice president for corporate strategy, said the deal was a perfect fit - his company's networking and server hardware-oriented business combined with LANDesk's PC desktop management products.
"We've been pursuing this [acquisition] strategy for two, two and a half years now . . . looking to where we could add a connection to more than servers," he said. "LANDesk brings us a healthy, growing revenue-based team."
In January, Avocent acquired Cyclades Corp., another privately held company, in a deal worth more than $90 million. The California company specializes in remote data and network management applications.
John Cooper, Avocent's chairman and CEO, also portrayed LANDesk as the next logical purchase for his expanding company.
"LANDesk has outstanding technology, a strong product pipeline, a large and diverse customer base that complements Avocent's, and outstanding people in every discipline," he said.
The company originally was founded in Provo in 1985 as LAN Systems. In 1991, then known as LANDesk Software, it was acquired by Intel, and was reestablished as an stand-alone company in 2002.
bmims@sltrib.com
