Juniper Picks Up NetScreen

In another sign that the security market—and the technology sector in general—is on the rebound, Juniper Networks Inc. agreed to acquire security appliance maker NetScreen Technologies Inc. for $4 billion in stock.

The purchase price is a premium of more than 50 percent for NetScreen’s shareholders. The company’s stock was trading at $26.40 at the end of last week and had a market capitalization of $3.25 billion. Each NetScreen shareholder will receive 1.4 shares of Juniper stock.

NetScreen, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is one of a growing number of security appliance makers, and its acquisition by Juniper positions the combined company to compete with larger security and networking players, analysts said.

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