Stock Spinoffs

Goodbye JDSU, Meet Lumentum Holdings(LITE) And Viavi Solutions(VIAV) With August 3 Spinoff

Inelegant Investor
More Summer Of Spin action as Lumentum and Viavi step into the light.  A decade after shedding the unwieldy JDS Uniphase(JDSU) name for the alphabet soup JDSU, the former dotcom bubble will say goodbye to this name as well as it splits into Lumentum Holdings and Viavi Solutions this weekend. The stock, which traded at over $1000 in early 2000 on a split-adjusted basis, closed yesterday at $11.06.  On August 1, 2015, JDSU will be renamed Viavi Solutions and will begin trading August 3 under the ticker VIAV. Meanwhile, shareholders of record as of July 27, 2015 will receive one share of Lumentum Holdings on August 3 for every five shares of JDSU held.  Viavi will retain 19.9% of Lumentum. Viavi will liquidate these shares within three years.

For corporate-name-o-philes, we have a real bonus- two ridiculous names for the price of one. What do they mean?

Lumentum — A Global Leader in Optical Communications and Commercial Lasers

The Lumentum brand reflects CCOP’s recognized leadership in optical technologies, commitment to driving innovation, and its ability to effectively address its customers’ unique requirements while scaling with quality through well-established technological and operational expertise.

That’s a lot to pack into a little name. You may have to squint to see it all.

The Viavi brand is based on the company’s ability to deliver the visibility and actionable insight needed to profitably manage the complex transition to next generation networks and services.

See that actionable insight? Beauty!

As is typical, the company’s leadership is excited about the focus the spinoff will add to each business.

“By operating as two independent companies, we believe Lumentum and Viavi Solutions will each be able to leverage a strong history while being more flexible and better positioned to capitalize on new opportunities in their respective markets,” said Tom Waechter, president and chief executive officer of JDSU, and CEO-designate for Viavi Solutions. “We look forward to completing the final steps in this process and launching exciting, new chapters for Lumentum and Viavi Solutions.”

Each company has announced its new Board of Directors.

Lumentum expects to appoint the following directors:

  • Harold Covert, former executive vice president and chief financial officer of Lumos Networks Corporation
  • Penelope Herscher, president and chief executive officer of FirstRain
  • Martin Kaplan, former executive vice president of Pacific Telesis Group, Inc.
  • Brian Lillie, chief information officer of Equinix, Inc.
  • Samuel Thomas, director, chairman and chief executive officer of Chart Industries, Inc.
  • Alan Lowe, CEO-designate for Lumentum Holdings, current president of JDSU’s CCOP segment since 2008 and executive vice president of JDSU

Harold Covert will serve as chairperson of the audit committee, Penelope Herscher will serve as chairperson of the compensation committee and Martin Kaplan will serve as chair of Lumentum’s board of directors as well as the chairperson of the governance committee.

…

Viavi expects that its board will include the following directors:

  • Keith Barnes, former chairman and CEO of Verigy and executive with Agilent, Electroglas, IMS, and Cadence
  • Richard E. Belluzzo, managing partner of Corso Partners LLC
  • Tim Campos, chief information officer and a member of the senior management team at Facebook
  • Masood Jabbar, former president of the Computer Systems Division and chief financial officer for Sun Microsystems Inc.
  • Pamela Strayer, senior vice president and chief financial officer at Plantronics
  • Thomas Waechter, present CEO of JDSU and CEO-designate for Viavi Solutions

Pamela Strayer will serve as chairperson of the audit committee, Keith Barnes will serve as chairperson of the compensation committee and Richard Belluzzo will serve as chair of Viavi’s board as well as chairperson of the governance committee.

Disclosure: The author holds no shares of any stock mentioned, but once, sadly, held Lucent way too long.

 

 

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