Oracle Acquires Acme Packet for $1.7 Billion

Software giant Oracle just announced plans to spend $1.7 billion to acquire Acme Packet, a company that makes VOIP networking gear. Oracle is paying $29.25 a share, which amounts to a 22 percent premium over Acme’s closing price on Friday.

Acme is based in Bedford, Mass. Oracle’s purchase gets it into the business of selling gear for things like videoconferencing and IP calling. Acme sells both to service providers and to the enterprise.

All in, the deal is worth about $2 billion, but comes in at $1.7 billion net of Acme’s cash, which stood at $363.4 million at the end of its most recent quarter.

It’s Oracle’s first acquisition of 2013. Last year it made 11 acquisitions, the biggest of which was Taleo, the maker of human-resources software that runs in the cloud, for which it paid $1.9 billion.