HP Inc. to acquire Poly
March 29, 2022
HP Inc. announced a definitive agreement to acquire Poly, a global provider of workplace collaboration solutions, in an all-cash transaction for $40 (€36) per share, implying a total enterprise value of $3.3 billion (€2.99 billion), inclusive of Poly’s net debt.
HP said that the acquisition accelerates its strategy to create a more growth-oriented portfolio, further strengthens its industry opportunity in hybrid work solutions, and positions the company for long-term sustainable growth and value creation.
“The rise of the hybrid office creates a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redefine the way work gets done,” said Enrique Lores, President and CEO of HP. “Combining HP and Poly creates a leading portfolio of hybrid work solutions across large and growing markets. Poly’s strong technology, complementary go-to-market, and talented team will help to drive long-term profitable growth as we continue building a stronger HP.”
Dave Shull, Poly CEO and President, added: “I am thrilled about the opportunity this represents for Poly, our employees, partners and customers. The combination gives us an opportunity to dramatically scale, reaching new markets and channels, supercharging our innovation with a like-minded partner. This transaction offers compelling and certain value for our shareholders and speaks to the hard work done by our teams to become a recognized leader in helping businesses everywhere meet the challenges of a generational disruption in the way people work.”
In a more hybrid world, cloud platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams will play an important role in innovating new experiences. Eric Yuan, Founder and CEO of Zoom added, “Highest quality audio and video has become an essential component of work across every industry, whether in an office, at home, or on the go. Bringing the Poly and HP offerings together will unlock new opportunities to partner with Zoom and turn any space into a hub for dynamic video collaboration.”
Poly is a leader in video conferencing solutions, cameras, headsets, voice and software. Together, HP and Poly will deliver a complete ecosystem of devices, software, and digital services to create premium employee experiences, improve workforce productivity, and provide enterprise customers with better visibility, insights, security, and manageability across their hybrid IT environments.
HP said it expects the transaction to be immediately accretive to HP’s revenue growth, margins, and non-GAAP EPS at close. With the expanded value proposition of a complete hybrid work solution, combined with HP’s scale and go-to-market capabilities, HP expects to realise substantial revenue synergies in peripherals as well as meeting room and workforce solutions.
HP will be able to cross-sell across its global commercial and consumer sales channels, while driving incremental sales from combining Poly’s products with HP’s PC portfolio. As a result, HP expects to achieve $500 million (€453 million) of revenue synergies by FY25 and accelerate Poly’s revenue growth to an approximately 15% CAGR over the first three years after closing.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2022, subject to Poly stockholder approval, required regulatory clearances, and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. HP will finance the transaction through a combination of balance sheet cash and new debt.
Categories : City News
Tags : Acquisition Business HP Inc Hybrid Workplace Investment Poly
