- Amphenol’s M&A appetite is growing with CommScope, Trexon and other deals
- It’s not placing all its eggs in one basket, said CEO Adam Norwitt
- Interestingly, Amphenol is also acquiring the CommScope name
Amphenol has made a splash with its $10.5 billion purchase of CommScope’s Connectivity and Cable Solutions (CCS). And there’s plenty more M&A where that came from, according to CEO Adam Norwitt.
“M&A is something near and dear to our heart,” he said on Amphenol’s Q3 earnings call, noting the company still sees “a lot of room to grow” both organically and through additional acquisitions. In Norwitt’s view, the interconnect industry has a market value of “more than a quarter trillion dollars,” but it’s also “highly fragmented.”
The company has indeed been on a roll, but its M&A appetite isn’t solely focused the interconnect realm.
In addition to acquiring CommScope’s CCS and outdoor wireless business, Amphenol recently scooped up Trexon – a cable assembly maker primarily for the defense market – for about $1 billion. Norwitt on the call mentioned Amphenol also closed a $100 million deal to buy Rochester Sensors, which designs sensors and gauges that monitor fuel, oil, water, etc.
Morningstar analyst William Kerwin noted in July Amphenol’s advantage is that it can tap into a “broad array of end markets” for revenue growth. The company seems to be pursuing M&A accordingly.
“We look at great companies across all of our end markets. We never put all our eggs in one basket,” Norwitt stated. “We don’t chase a thing of the moment in M&A. We take a very, very long-term view of our acquisition program.”
CommScope’s future in a post-Amphenol world
As for CommScope, he expects the CCS deal to close by end of Q1 2026, about a quarter sooner than originally anticipated. But that’s not all – Amphenol will also be taking the CommScope name.
Per a September SEC filing, CommScope said it plans to change its name after the transaction closes. Amphenol will provide CommScope “transitional trademark licenses” that will let the latter to use the name outside CCS for “a limited period of time.”
Since Amphenol also bought CommScope’s outdoor wireless unit and distributed antenna system (DAS), that leaves CommScope with Access Network Solutions (ANS), its cable and fiber gear biz, and Ruckus, which sells wired and wireless enterprise equipment.
Whatever its new name will be, the future CommScope will likely continue to play a key part in cable upgrades.
ANS notably includes cable assets from Casa Systems, which CommScope acquired in May 2024 for $45.1 million. The company is also supplying Comcast and others with AI-embedded “smart” amplifiers, as the operators seek better insights into what’s happening in the far-flung stretches of their networks.