Ericsson on Monday dismissed rumours that it is the subject of a takeover bid from IT technology vendor Cisco.
"We note that there are rumours in the market regarding an acquisition of Ericsson by Cisco possibly spurred by the recent announcement of a partnership between our two companies," said Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg on Monday.
"The talks leading up to the partnership announcement have been ongoing for a year and there have not been any discussions whatsoever on a merger or an acquisition," Vestberg said.
Ericsson and Cisco announced a wide-ranging global strategic partnership a week ago. Under the terms of that agreement, Ericsson will resell Cisco products, and Cisco will integrate its equipment with Ericsson’s network management and OSS/BSS solutions, enabling the pair to offer telco customers, and eventually enterprises, a one-stop-shop for mobile, data centre, and IP network infrastructure, as well as associated services and back office solutions. They will also collaborate on R&D.
At the time the companies addressed the question of why they did not take the partnership further and created a joint venture or agreed a full merger.
A strategic partnership, rather than a merger, "brings innovation from both sides and allows us to act now,& quot; Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said, on a conference call. And Vestberg added that the set-up allows both companies to move a lot more quickly than if they had formed a joint venture.
The executives stressed that they spent 13 months hammering out the details of the partnership.
