Riverbed Technology to Buy Opnet for $993 Million Riverbed Technology said on Monday that it planned to buy Opnet Technologies for $993.3 million in cash and stock, bolstering its business in optimizing software on corporate networks. Under the terms of the two-step merger deal, Riverbed will pay $36.55 in cash and 0.2774 of a share for each Opnet share. That represents a premium of about 34 percent to Opnet's closing price on Friday. By buying Opnet, Riverbed is hoping to add to its software management services, a complementary business to its own network hardware offerings. Opnet specializes in what is known as application performance management, services intended to optimize the way business software operates on networks. "The addition of Opnet establishes Riverbed as the clear leader in the high-growth and converging application and network performance management markets," Jerry M. Kennelly, Riverbed's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. This acquisition also transforms Riverbed into a billion dollar revenue company. Riverbed will combine Opnet with its Cascade business unit. It said the deal would add to its earnings per share on a pro forma basis beginning next year. The deal comes as Opnet has been hurt by rising expenses. Separately on Monday, Opnet reported that profit fell nearly 19 percent in the second quarter of its 2013 fiscal year. Its 22 cents of adjusted earnings a share fell short of the average analyst estimate of 25 cents, according to Standard & Poor's Capital IQ. The cash portion of the deal will be financed by Riverbed's cash on hand and financing that will be provided by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. Riverbed was advised by Goldman and the law firms Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Opnet was advised by Lazard and Cooley.