Silver Lake to invest $1 B in Motorola, gain 2 seats on communications equipment maker's board

The private equity firm Silver Lake is putting $1 billion into Motorola Solutions and gaining two seats on the communications equipment maker's board.

Motorola said Wednesday that it plans to spend the investment on its public safety and services businesses and to help cover a $2 billion share buyback. The companies expect the deal to close in the third quarter.

Silver Lake managing partners Egon Durban and Greg Mondre will join Motorola's board when the deal closes.

Silver Lake will buy convertible senior notes due in 2020 with an initial conversion price of $68.50 per share. That's a conversion premium of 17 percent to the volume-weighted average price of the company's stock during a period of 30 trading days that ended Tuesday.

Motorola also reported better-than-expected second-quarter results Wednesday. The Schaumburg, Illinois-based company earned $142 million, or 68 cents per share, on $1.37 billion in revenue during the quarter.

Shares of Motorola Solutions Inc. jumped more than 5 percent, or $3.30, to $63.52 before markets opened Wednesday.