Avaya, Camber make $100M deal

In a bit of portfolio shaping, Avaya is selling its government professional services business in a $100 million deal with Camber Corp.

Avaya will keep its government product sales and services business. For Camber, the acquisition is an opportunity to pick up more software and network engineering and program consulting services, as well as secure collaboration tools.

For those with a long enough memory, what Camber is buying is the old PEC Solutions business, which was acquired by Nortel in 2005 in a $448 million deal. In 2009, Avaya bought Nortel.

Avaya’s remaining government business will continue to be called Avaya Government Solutions. The deal is expected to close in 90 days, according to Avaya.

The investment bank Stifel Nicolaus & Co. acted as the financial advisor in the deal.

These kinds of deals are becoming very common across the market as companies retool and redirect resources.

It looks like this deal makes a lot of sense for both companies. Avaya isn’t in the professional services business, so selling this division lets it get rid of a business that isn’t core to its culture and growth strategy.

Camber is a professional services company, so this is a good move for them. They get some more scale, new contracts and new customers.

I’ve heard more than one person say that one company’s unwanted business unit can be a coveted jewel for another.

The challenge is making the right matches between what one company wants to get rid of, and what another company is looking to pick up.