Sandvine to Merge with Procera Networks in $562 Million Deal

**Editor’s Note: Please click here for a recap of the biggest channel-impacting merger and acquisition news from May and June.**

Ontario, Canada-based Sandvine Corp. will soon be part of California-based Procera Networks.

Procera’s Lyndon Cantor

Private equity firm Francisco Partners has won the bidding war for Sandvine, which provides network policy control solutions. Francisco bought Procera in 2015. Francisco Partners says Sandvine is worth approximately $562 million.

Procera CEO Lyndon Cantor will lead the combined company, which will go by the Sandvine name. Procera provides subscriber and network intelligence.

“This is a very exciting next step for Sandvine and Procera. As technologies and networks continue to evolve, I firmly believe that the combination of Sandvine and Procera creates the premier provider in our markets — with the scale and innovation needed to address our customers’ opportunities to build more intelligent networks,” said Sandvine CEO Dave Caputo, who will leave his position to join the new company’s board of directors.

Cantor says the combined business will expand its market and be better equipped to serve its clients. Both companies have channel partner programs.

Sandvine’s Dave Caputo

“Sandvine has done a tremendous job becoming a leader in its market,” he said. “Along with the rest of the Procera team, we look forward to bringing the best of both companies together to accelerate our strategy as the preeminent provider in the emerging network intelligence market.”

Sandvine postponed its Tuesday shareholder meeting in order to plan a special meeting to discuss the acquisition. The official offer came from PNI Canada Acquireco Corp., an affiliate of Francisco Partners and Procera. It led Sandvine to snub an offer from Vector Capital, which many news outlets had reported as a done deal. Sandvine is a publicly traded company, but will delist its stock shares as it merges with the privately owned Procera. Read the companies’ announcement for the stock details.

“We are excited to bring together two great companies and teams in the combination of Procera and Sandvine,” said Andrew Kowal, a partner at Francisco Partners. “The combined company will serve over 400 communications service provider customers, with over 1 billion subscribers in more than 100 countries, as well as over 500 enterprise customers and more than 100 OEM and channel partners. We are confident that the combined capabilities of these two companies will deliver more innovative solutions and greater value to customers.”