Fortinet acquiring Meru Networks for $44 million

Fortinet, a leading provider of fast and secure cyber security solutions, is acquiring Meru Networks Inc., for approximately $44 million.

Sunnyvale, California-based Meru Networks, founded in 2002, provides a virtualized wireless LAN solution. The company went public in 2010 and reported 2014 revenue of $90.9 million.

The acquisition is set to strengthen Fortinet’s presence in the wireless market.

Fortinet, which already offers Wi-Fi access points and integrated Wi-Fi/security appliances, said that the deal “expands its opportunity to uniquely address the $5B global enterprise Wi-Fi market with integrated and intelligent secure wireless solutions.”

The acquisition of Meru Networks is expected to add “an experienced research and engineering team to help accelerate Fortinet’s strategy to secure and manage wired and wireless devices together at any entry point to the network.”

Fortinet will pay $1.63 per share of Meru, an 18 percent premium to its Tuesday closing price of $1.38.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.

Ken Xie, founder, chairman and CEO of Fortinet, commented:

“The acquisition of Meru Networks maps to our overall security vision of combining strong network security with ubiquitous connectivity,”

“We expect this to accelerate our innovation through the delivery of new solutions and services to help enterprises of all sizes deploy, manage and secure wired and wireless networks in a mobile era. We believe the extension of our market-leading end-to-end security platform will increase our growth opportunities and benefit our customers and partners globally.”

Rigrodsky & Long, P.A. announced investigation of the deal

Seperately, Rigrodsky & Long, P.A. announced today that it is looking into potential legal claims against the board of directors of Meru Networks, Inc. over possible breaches of fiduciary duties and other violations of law related to its entry into an agreement to be acquired by Fortinet, Inc.

“The investigation concerns whether Meru’s board of directors failed to adequately shop the Company and obtain the best possible value for Meru’s shareholders before entering into an agreement with Fortinet.”