Ruckus Wireless Inc. (NYSE: RKUS) shares soared the most in four years after Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD) said it will buy the wireless network equipment maker in a deal that values it at about $1.5 billion. Ruckus shareholders will get $6.45 in cash and 0.75 of Brocade common share for each Ruckus share, according to a statement from the companies Monday.

That values Ruckus at about $1.5 billion, based on Brocade’s closing stock price on April 1. The transaction value is about $1.2 billion, “net of estimated cash acquired,” according to the statement. Shares in Sunnyvale, California-based Ruckus jumped as much as 33 percent to $13.30 at in New York.


The deal will add to Brocade’s adjusted earnings per share by the first quarter of fiscal 2017, the companies said.


“The acquisition will complement Brocade’s enterprise networking portfolio, adding Ruckus’ higher-growth, wireless products to Brocade’s market-leading networking solutions,” according to the statement. “Wireless is a critical access technology and the combination of Brocade and Ruckus creates a new type of pure-play networking company.”


San Jose, California-based Brocade also announced that it’s boosting its stock buyback plan by $800 million, an effort to help repurchase all of the shares issued in conjunction with the Ruckus acquisition. Shares of Brocade dropped 15 percent to $9.06 at 9:58 a.m. in New York.

Brocade also purchased Connectum in March 2015. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Recent deals in the technology space have included data communications provider Fusion Telecommunications International Inc.'s (Nasdaq: FSNN) purchase of call center software company Technology for Business Corp. (TFB) and data-center operator TierPoint LLC's acquisition of Cosentry, a cloud, colocation and managed services provider based in Omaha, Nebraska.

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