CNT buys Inrange for $190 million

Computer Network Technology on Monday said it had agreed to acquire Inrange Technologies for $190 million in a move to broaden its reach to local data storage networks, pushing its shares down almost 28 percent. Minneapolis-based CNT, which makes routers for wide area networks, said it would buy 91 percent of Inrange from majority shareholder SPX for $2.31 per share. It will acquire Inrange's public shares at the same price.

The company?s purchase price is a 4 percent premium to Inrange's closing stock price of $2.22 on Friday. The move will put Computer Network Technology in competition with networking giant Cisco Systems, which plans to start selling switches that will compete with Inrange and other data storage switch makers such as McData and Network Appliance.

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