Siemens Communications Group yesterday signed an agreement to acquire Shanghai-based PhotonicBridges (China) Co Ltd, a local manufacturer of optical network transport products. The deal, worth tens of millions of US dollars, is expected to help strengthen Siemens' network business after it sold its ailing mobile phone division to Taiwan's BenQ.

PhotonicBridges was established in 2000 with venture capital from a number of investors, such as Legend Capital, Acer Technology ventures and Fortune Assets Management Ltd. PhotonicBridges has previously been an OEM (original equipment manufacturing) partner of Siemens.

After gaining approval from Chinese regulators for the acquisition, Siemens will merge all of PhotonicBridges' products into its global optical network portfolio. PhotonicBridges now employs more than 300 people, developing optical transmission systems based on a standard called SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy).

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