Broadcom Acquires SC Square for $42 Million

Broadcom paid $42 million to snap up security software developer SC Square.

Semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire SC Square, a security software developer based in Israel, for approximately $41.9 million. The purchase price will be paid in cash, with a portion of the consideration placed into escrow pursuant to the terms of the acquisition agreement.

Excluding any purchase accounting related adjustments and fair value measurements, Broadcom expects the acquisition of SC Square to be dilutive to earnings for the remainder of 2011 by approximately $0.01. The boards of directors of the two companies have approved the acquisition.

The companies noted the transaction remains subject to the satisfaction of closing conditions and is expected to close in Broadcom's second quarter, ending June 30, 2011. The acquisition is part of Broadcom's strategy to acquire innovative technologies and high-quality teams with a solid track record of execution, according to a company release.

Broadcom products are designed to enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment. The company provides a broad portfolio of system-on-a-chip and embedded software solutions to manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices. One of the world's largest fabless communications semiconductor companies, Broadcom closes out 2010 with revenue of $6.82 billion.

In April, Broadcom completed the acquisition of Provigent, a provider of highly integrated, high performance, mixed signal semiconductors for microwave backhaul systems. Broadcom paid approximately $313 million, net of cash assumed, to acquire all of the outstanding shares of capital stock and other rights of Provigent.

Last year, the company acquired Beceem Communications, a provider of 4G wireless platform solutions, for an estimated $316 million. The acquisition, gave Broadcom access to Beceem's solutions for LTE (Long Term Evolution) and WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), the two standards associated with 4G cellular services. Privately held Beceem has announced a 4G multimode platform for both LTE and WiMax 4G networks that support peak broadband download speeds of up to 200M bps.

The company also recently announced its latest StrataXGS high-performance switch solution, designed specifically to manage the growth in wireless data traffic and carrier transition to 4G mobile networks. Mobile backhaul expenditures are expected to reach $8 billion by 2014, according to a 2010 iSuppli report.

"With the emergence of 4G, the last-mile backhaul is critical because poor performance in the backhaul creates bottlenecks that limit growth and diminish quality of service," said Michael Howard, principal analyst for carrier and data center networks for IT research firm Infonetics. "We anticipate mobile operators' spending on the mobile backhaul to grow substantially over the next several years as they develop an efficient and effective last-mile backhaul. We are seeing the emergence of the Ethernet protocol as the most optimal solution to address the capacity and economic issues facing carriers today."