Alcatel-Lucent buys service mgmt. partner for $68 million

Alcatel-Lucent (see how green the company's switches are) this week said it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Motive, a provider of service management software for broadband and mobile data services, for $67.8 million.

The cash tender offer values Motive stock at $2.23 per share, a premium of approximately 53% over the closing price of the shares on June 16. The transaction is expected to close by early in the fourth quarter of 2008. (Watch a slide show of the hottest M&A deals in the industry.)

The acquisition follows a three-year relationship between Alcatel-Lucent and Motive in which the companies jointly developed and sold remote management software for automating the deployment, configuration and support of residential gateways. Alcatel-Lucent and Motive have more than 40 joint customers, including AT&T, Verizon, BT and Swisscom.

Motive has 300 employees worldwide with R&D operations in Austin, Texas, and Bangalore, India. It will become part of Alcatel-Lucent's Fixed Access Division, within the Carrier Business Group.