HP to acquire Poly for $1.7 billion

HP has reached an agreement to acquire Poly (formerly Plantronics) for a purchase price of $1.7 billion, with a total transaction value of $3.3 billion, including debt. HP’s $40 per share offer came in at approximately a 53% premium over Poly’s most recent closing price. 

HP claims the new purchase will “further strengthens its industry opportunity in hybrid work solutions, and positions the company for long-term sustainable growth and value creation.” It points to a report from Frost & Sullivan titled “State of the Global Video Conferencing Devices Market,” which predicts that 75% of office workers will invest in new hardware to improve their hybrid work setups. 

Shares of HP fell 1.4% in premarket trading on the news, but Poly’s shares spiked 49% during the same trading period. 

Before being renamed Poly, Plantronics had split its interests between the consumer and business markets. However, since its 2018 renaming, the company has focused entirely on in-office gear. 

While the transaction remained largely under the radar until this announcement, Poly had courted other suitors previously. The company was in talks with Logitech at one point, but that merger eventually fell through. 

Enrique Lores, President and CEO of HP, said, “Combining HP and Poly creates a leading portfolio of hybrid work solutions across large and growing markets.” Specifically, Poly will be leveraged to help HP tap into a $110 billion peripherals market, the companies said. 

This transaction also follows last year’s acquisition of Teradici, a company specializing in bringing high-performance computing to hybrid work environments, suggesting a clear, overall shift in priorities toward hybrid work. 

HP expects the deal to be “immediately accretive” to its revenue growth, margins, and non-GAAP EPS once it closes, with $500 in revenue synergies expected by 2025. That closing date is expected to happen sometime before the end of 2022, “subject to Poly stockholder approval, required regulatory clearances, and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.”