Cisco drags Acacia to court after terminated acquisition

Cisco is seeking confirmation from the Delaware Court of Chancery that it has met all conditions for closing of its acquisition of Acacia Communications, including approval of China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR). The company is also seeking a court mandate that the agreement may not be terminated until the court resolves these matters, and an order from the Court requiring Acacia to close the transaction, a press release reads. On January 7, 2021, Cisco was notified by SAMR that the agency has determined that Cisco’s submission is “sufficient to address the relevant competition concerns.” However, on January 8, 2021, Acacia published a press release in which it said that it had elected to terminate its merger agreement with Cisco. As Acacia states, the proposed merger was conditioned on the satisfaction certain closing conditions, including obtaining necessary regulatory approvals within a specific timeframe. Because approval of the Chinese government’s State Administration for Market Regulation was not received within the timeframe contemplated by the merger agreement, Acacia did not have an obligation to close the merger, and as such decided to exercised its right to terminate the proposed transaction. Cisco informed Acacia that it may dispute Acacia’s right to have terminated the merger agreement, which is what we're seeing right now. Acacia however, says it intends to defend any such claims. Under the terms of the agreement signed back in July of 2019, Cisco intended to acquire Acacia for USD 70.00 per share in cash, or for approximately USD 2.6 billion.