Motorola Acquires Vancouver-Based Avigilon for $1 Billion in Historic Deal
You know what’s cooler than a million?
Motorola has agreed to buy the Vancouver-based Avigilon for approximately $1 billion USD ($1.25 billion CAD). The massive all-cash acquisition signifies Motorola’s intent to fully enter the video surveillance and analytics market. The Chicago-based Motorola has previously built and sold two-way radios and police body cameras, but nothing like a full-on surveillance unit.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Motorola will purchase all of Avigilon’s outstanding shares for a price of $27 CAD per share. At the time of the announcement, Avigilon;’s shares were trading at just below $23 a piece on the TSX. This purchase signifies one of the larger acquisitions of a TSX-listed tech company in recent memory and is the third takeover of a publicly-traded Canadian company valued at more than $1 billion this decade.
“This acquisition will bring Avigilon’s advanced video surveillance and analytics platform to the rapidly evolving public safety workflow, while also expanding our portfolio with new products and technologies for commercial customers,” said Greg Brown, chairman and CEO of Motorola Solutions. “Video can play a powerful role in creating safer cities and thriving businesses. It can serve as highly efficient ‘eyes and ears’ for monitoring a given location, and advanced video analytics can proactively alert officials to a perimeter breach or quickly find a person who left behind an object of interest.”
Avigilon specializes in the production of surveillance cameras as well as video analytics software. The company’s products are used in several different industries including airports, government facilities, retail and more. They hold over 750 U.S. and international patents, and just recently Avigilon signed a contract with Saudi Arabian retailers to install close to 7,000 cameras across 19 malls in the country.
As part of the acquisition agreement, Avigilon will remain as an independent business unit and control their manufacturing plants across North America. Their largest Canadian manufacturing plant is located in Richmond, B.C.
“We’re very pleased to be joining Motorola Solutions, as their vision and strategy aligns fully with our own,” said Alexander Fernandes, Avigilon’s founder and CEO. “This combination will bring new opportunities to Avigilon, allowing us to accelerate our innovation and provide even more value to our customers.”
Avigilon was one of the top-performing security stocks in the world in 2017, soaring close to 65 per cent over the course of the year. The company was on track to exceed $400 million USD in revenue for 2017. Fernandes, the largest stockholder in Avigilon, stands to take home about $115-million before tax from the deal.
