Palantir a high-risk investment with ’a one-of-a-kind growth and margin model’
Investing.com -- The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division has announced that Keysight Technologies (NYSE:KEYS) Inc. (Keysight) will have to divest Spirent (LON:SPT) Communications plc.’s (Spirent) high-speed ethernet testing, network security testing, and RF channel emulation businesses in order to address antitrust concerns related to their proposed $1.5 billion merger.
The Antitrust Division has filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the proposed transaction. Simultaneously, the Division has submitted a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, would resolve the Division’s competitive concerns.
Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the Antitrust Division commented on the resolution, saying that the structural solution preserves competition for key testing equipment used to ensure speedy and secure data movement globally. The proposed divestiture to Viavi, a known innovative test and measurement company, ensures that American consumers and businesses will continue to benefit from competition that promotes innovation and allows American companies to maintain global leadership.
The complaint by the Antitrust Division states that Keysight and Spirent dominate the markets in the United States for high-speed ethernet testing, network security testing, and RF channel emulators. High-tech companies, including chipset manufacturers, cloud computing providers, mobile network operators, government labs, and large enterprises, rely on these products to validate that their networks and network equipment are functional, secure, and integrating the latest technology. The parties together account for significant portions of the market for these testing tools. Without the proposed divestiture, Keysight’s acquisition of Spirent would likely result in higher prices, lower quality, and reduced innovation, negatively affecting customers and American consumers.
The proposed settlement necessitates that Keysight divest Spirent’s high-speed ethernet testing, network security testing, and RF channel emulation businesses to Viavi. This includes all tangible and intangible assets required to produce and sell these products. These three business lines represent about 40% of Spirent’s total revenues. Viavi is expected to hire certain key Spirent employees that currently support the divested business lines.
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.