ltron Inc has signed an agreement to acquire all of the stock and convertible bonds of Actaris Metering Systems. The purchase price is €800 million euros plus the retirement of approximately €445 million euros of debt, which, at an exchange rate of 1.30, totals approximately $1.6 billion. The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2007.
The combined company will be one of the largest metering companies in the world. This acquisition will allow Actaris to offer Itron's AMR and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) technologies, software, and systems to customers outside of North America, and expand Actaris gas and water meter opportunities in North America.
The acquisition of Actaris will be funded by about $1.1 billion of fully committed senior secured debt facilities; the net proceeds of the private placement of approximately $235 million of common stock, which was completed Feb 25, 2007; and cash on hand.