CommScope


CommScope Inc., which opened in 1976, is an American global network infrastructure provider company based in Hickory, North Carolina. CommScope is a 1997 spin-off of General Instrument and has over 20,000 employees worldwide, with customers in over 130 countries.
CommScope manufactures the SYSTIMAX and Uniprise brands of enterprise infrastructure of copper Unshielded Twisted Pair cabling, connector panels, jacks and fiber optic cabling, connector panels, racking, and metals. CommScope also manufactures environmentally secure cabinets for FTTN and DSL applications.

History

In 1975, CommScope was a product line of Superior Continental Cable. 29-year-old Frank Drendel headed a team charged with selling the failing product line. Drendel and Jearld Leonhardt founded CommScope in August 1976 after raising $5.1 million to purchase the CommScope product line. Two years later, CommScope and Valtech merged under the Valtech name. In 1979 Valtech donated fiber optics line and equipment to link the U.S. House of Representatives to the C-SPAN studios, enabling live broadcasting of U.S. Congressional proceedings for the first time.
In the 1980s, Valtech sold to M/A-COM, Inc. and CommScope became part of the Cable Home Group for M/A-COM. In 1983 CommScope formed the Network Cable division for the local area network, data communications, television-receive only, and specialized wire markets. In 1986 M/A-COM, Inc. sold the Cable Home Group to General Instrument Corporation. CommScope became a division of General Instrument.
In 1990 CommScope opened a new manufacturing facility in Claremont, North Carolina, to answer the increased demand for unshielded twisted pair, television receive-only cables and personal computer cables.
In 1997 General Instrument split into three independent, publicly traded companies, one of which was CommScope. In July 1997 Drendel rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange to announce CommScope going public.
In 2000 CommScope opened its new global headquarters in Hickory, North Carolina. In 2004 CommScope acquired Avaya's Connectivity Solutions business and inherited the SYSTIMAX brand, a company perhaps best known for its enterprise cabling systems. Avaya's Carrier Solutions, which offered products designed for switching and transmission applications in telephone central offices and secure environmental enclosures, also became part of CommScope. This acquisition doubled CommScope's size. In 2007 CommScope acquired the global wireless infrastructure provider Andrew Corporation. Through its new Andrew brand, CommScope became a global leader in radio frequency subsystem solutions for wireless networks and again doubled CommScope's size.
On October 25, 2010, The Carlyle Group, a global alternative asset manager, announced it would pay $31.50 a share, or about $2.98 billion, to take CommScope private.
In 2011 the acquisition by Carlyle Group was completed. This made CommScope privately owned by the Carlyle Group and removed it from the New York Stock Exchange. The acquisition also changed CommScope's executive structure. Eddie Edwards was appointed president and chief executive officer, succeeding Drendel, who had been CommScope's CEO since the company's founding in 1976. Drendel continued as the chairman of the board.
In July 2011, CommScope received the 2010 Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award from Technology Marketing Corporation for its product, Wired For Wireless.
On August 2, 2013, CommScope filed with the SEC to raise up to $750 million in an initial public offering. The initial public offering and first public trading took place on October 25, 2013 at NASDAQ.
In 2015 CommScope acquired TE Connectivity's Broadband Network Solutions division. Also in 2015 CommScope acquired Airvana, a privately held company that specialized in small cell solutions for wireless networks.
In November 2016, the Carlyle Group announced the sale of its remaining stock.
On May 16, 2017, CommScope introduced a High Speed Migration platform.
On November 8, 2018, CommScope announced that it would acquire Arris International in a cash deal valued at $7.4 billion including the repayment of debt. This acquisition brought back together two of the General Instrument companies from the 1997 split. The transaction was completed on April 4, 2019.

Acquisitions

In 2004 the company acquired Avaya's Connectivity Solutions business. The Avaya business acquisition included the legacy intellectual property and patents from Western Electric, AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and Avaya.
In June 2007, CommScope acquired Andrew Corporation for $2.6 billion. Andrew's products included antennas, cables, amplifiers, repeaters, transceivers, as well as software and training for the broadband and cellular industries.
In January 2015, CommScope agreed to purchase a unit of TE Connectivity for $3 billion. The transaction closed August 28, 2015.
In October 2015, CommScope acquired Airvana, a manufacturer of small cells and femtocells.
In November 2018 CommScope agreed to purchase Arris International, maker of a variety of networking equipment including set top boxes, WiFi routers and Ethernet switches for $7.4 billion. In February 2019, Arris shareholders approved the purchase.

Board of Directors

Source:

Management Team