Belden to buy Canada’s Miranda Tech for C$377 million

(Reuters) – Belden Inc, a manufacturer of cable-TV and networking products, said on Tuesday it will buy Canadian rival Miranda Technologies Inc for C$377 million ($362.1 million) to expand its presence in niche markets.

St Louis-based Belden is offering Miranda shareholders C$17 a share for control of the Montreal-based company, which provides technology for television broadcasters to both create and distribute high-definition video.

The bid represents a 64 percent premium to Miranda‘s Monday closing price of C$10.39 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Analysts and investors cheered the offer, sending Miranda shares up 62.4 percent to C$16.87 by midday.

“This is a fantastic deal for Miranda’s shareholders,” said National Bank analyst Kris Thompson in a note to clients. “We’d tender shares as we do not expect a superior bid and we expect Miranda’s future operating performance to come under pressure in a challenged sector.”

The bid comes just months after Belden failed in its C$280 million unsolicited attempt to buy Canada’s RuggedCom, a maker of heavy-duty routers and ethernet cables. That offer collapsed after Siemens AG stepped in as a white-knight with a C$382 million bid for RuggedCom.

Belden said its offer for Miranda, which is not subject to any financing conditions, has the backing of Miranda’s board of directors.

The announcement of the deal comes less than three months after Miranda said it was in talks with strategic partners about a potential transaction. Analysts speculated at the time that Miranda could be the target of competitors such as Harris Corp and privately held Grass Valley LLC, or hardware companies such as Cisco Systems Inc.

Miranda said the offer is the culmination of its strategic review process, during which it received enquiries and proposals and had discussions with a number of parties.

“This is an attractive opportunity for Miranda shareholders to realize a significant premium for their shares in an all-cash deal,” Miranda Chief Executive Strath Goodship said in a statement.

Belden said the deal would help it to cater to the needs of the television broadcast industry. The company said it has no plans to change Miranda’s existing operations.

“The combined company would be a leader in one of Belden`s target market segments and would deliver considerable value for Belden customers and shareholders,” Belden Chief Executive John Stroup said in a statement.

Belden’s own New York-listed shares rose nearly 1 percent to $30.56 on Tuesday following the announcement of the deal.

BMO Capital Markets acted as financial advisors to Miranda on the deal, while Osler, Hoskin Harcourt LLP acted as legal counsel. Belden’s legal advisor on the offer was McCarthy Tétrault LLP.

(Reporting By Euan Rocha in Toronto and Bijoy Koyitty in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Lisa Von Ahn; and Peter Galloway)

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