The first thing that investors in Pace should know, before they crack open the champagne, is that the purchase by Arris, quoted on Nasdaq, is a long way from being a done deal. The combined entity will have an estimated 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the set-top box (STB) market sold to US cable networks.
There are not that many buyers. Pace is reckoned to get half its revenues from Comcast, AT&T and DirecTV. The last two are merging, and Arris does not supply DirecTV, so the combined group might raise sales there. The biggest customer is reckoned to be Comcast, and it may take a dim view and complain to the regulator. This is a tax inversion deal, with the new