Voxx and Sharp are establishing a joint venture, they said Thursday, announcing the previously disclosed (see 2105030054) joint acquisition of Onkyo’s AV business for $30.8 million. The agreement includes assumption of certain liabilities, and future commissions on certain sales will be payable, they said. Voxx’s Premium Audio subsidiary and Sharp signed a letter of intent last month to buy Onkyo Home Entertainment’s AV business. The joint venture is subject to the approval of shareholders at the June 25 annual meeting. Upon closing, Voxx and Sharp would own “substantially all of the assets of Onkyo's audio/video business,” including intellectual property, brands, engineering, and manufacturing rights. Premium Audio would be responsible for all sales, marketing, and distribution of Onkyo and Integra AV products; Sharp would be responsible for manufacturing, which it currently does in Malaysia. It's expected that distribution of Onkyo and Integra AV products will be handled through Premium Audio’s 11 Trading subsidiary in North and South America and through Voxx’s Klipsch subsidiary, headed by CEO Paul Jacobs, in all other global regions. The Pioneer and Pioneer Elite AV brands, currently licensed by Onkyo, and which have been sold through 11TC, aren't part of the purchase agreement, though the parties signed a memo of understanding to form a new agreement for the brands, they said.

Warner Bros. Discovery will be the new name of AT&T’s WarnerMedia and Discovery when they combine next year, said Discovery CEO David Zaslav Tuesday. The companies announced last month (see 2105170051) the $43 billion deal that will give AT&T’s shareholders 71%. For more, see here.

T-Mobile will buy Shentel Wireless, a deal that has been in the works since August, when T-Mobile said it would exercise an option (see 2008270048), Shenandoah Telecommunications said Tuesday. T-Mobile will pay $1.95 billion cash, a price set by three independent valuation providers (see 2102020022). This gives T-Mobile 1.1 million subscribers in parts of Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania. “The deal, now set to close in Q3, has been in the works since last summer, as T-Mobile had few options but to buyout the old Sprint affiliates,” New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin told investors.

Valens Semiconductor, originator of HDBaseT high-speed connectivity technology for home theater and autonomous vehicles (see 1704140047), will combine with PTK, a “special purpose acquisition company,” and take itself public on the New York Stock Exchange, said the chipmaker Tuesday. Valens will use the proceeds from the initial public offering to speed development and commercialization of “next generation products and to fully fund the company through profitability,” it said. The stock will trade as VLN once its IPO is complete, it said. The merger transaction is expected to close in the fall and requires regulatory approvals, plus Valens and PTK shareholders' ratifications, said a spokesperson.

A GI Partners buy of Orbcomm would give the satellite operator access to financial, managerial and technical resources that would help it be more competitive in the global IoT market, Orbcomm said in an FCC International Bureau application Friday seeking OK of license transfers to GI. The $1.1 billion investment firm acquisition was announced last month. The deal includes investment by a company formed to manage foreign reserves of Singapore, Orbcomm said. It said that group would be a passive investor, indirectly hold roughly 19% of Orbcomm and have no governance rights. It said the deal doesn't trigger any national security concerns since no foreign person will control Orbcomm and there won't be any changes to the existing location or control of any Orbcomm network facility.

Quantum dots specialist Nanosys announced the acquisition of glo, the 18-year-old tech company specializing in microLED displays. The transaction “uniquely positions” Nanosys as “the only company that can address” the multitude of display applications from LCD to QD-OLED to microLED to NanoLED, Nanosys’ name for emissive QDs, said Director-Marketing Jeff Yurek Thursday. Nanosys isn't disclosing transaction terms at glo's request, Yurek told us. The deal is expected to close by Monday, he said: “We plan to bring both teams together under the Nanosys brand.” Nanosys “can't share our plans” yet, said Yurek, when we asked if the company will seek to trademark NanoLED.

Sony Music Entertainment completed its $430 million buy of Kobalt Music Group’s distribution and neighboring rights businesses for independent artists under a definitive agreement announced Feb. 1. Sony continues cooperating with the U.K. antitrust review initiated before the transaction was closed, said the company Wednesday.

Cisco said Friday it's buying Kenna Security. Combining Kenna’s “vulnerability management” expertise with Cisco’s SecureX “threat intelligence” platform can help reduce the cyber risk “attack surface” and the time it takes to detect cyberattacks and respond, it said. “As we shift to a work-from-anywhere model, employees are connecting to the network with company-owned and personal devices and are increasingly reliant on cloud technologies,” said Cisco. “These trends have significantly expanded the attack surface and increased the complexity of security.” The transaction is expected to close in fiscal Q4, said Cisco.

Cisco is buying Socio Labs for its event technology platform, it said Wednesday, citing the hybrid event model emerging from the pandemic. Combining Socio Labs’ platform with Cisco’s Webex will enable large-scale, multi-session hybrid events and conferences with livestreaming, sponsorship, networking and advanced analytics. The Socio Labs team will join the Webex customer experience team (see personals section of this issue). The deal is expected to be completed in Cisco’s fiscal Q4 ending in July.

Targus bought accessories company Sanho and its Apple-focused Hyper product line, said the buyer Tuesday. Targus will remain headquartered in Anaheim, and Hyper will maintain its Silicon Valley home base. The brands will remain “uniquely independent,” said Targus.