Zebra Tech To Buy Enterprise Unit Of Motorola Solutions In $3.5 Bln Deal: FT

(RTTNews) - Inventory tracking company Zebra Technologies Corp. (ZBRA) is poised to buy the enterprise business of Motorola Solutions Inc. (MSI) for about $3.5 billion in an all- cash deal, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the discussions.

The deal, which was signed in the past few days, could be announced as early as Tuesday, the report said.

Zebra, with a market value of $3.44 billion, helps Amazon keep track of its inventory. Zebra produces tracking systems for large retailers, and also builds human-tracking technology that is used by sports teams to assess individual player performance. It also produces microchips used for ski-resort lift passes.

Motorola's enterprise business provides bar code scanners. A successful transaction reportedly would create a behemoth in the specialised industry for tracking, and would result in a combined group with about 7,000 employers and annual sales of close to $3.5 billion.

In December, Zebra acquired Hart Systems, a provider of cloud-based physical inventory management solutions, from private equity firm Topspin Partners LBO.

Zebra shares closed Monday's trading at $68.28, up $1.49 or 2.23 percent. Motorola shares settled at $63.78, up $0.39 or 0.62 percent.