Cisco picks up minor stake in Russia’s Parallels

Cisco Systems Inc, the San Jose, California-based networking equipment company, has acquired a stake of about 1 per cent in Russian software developer Parallels.

Parallels said in a statement on Thursday that Cisco has bought a small stake in the company and added that the stake sale does not rule out a possible initial public offer of the Russian firm.

"We are looking at all possible ways to ensure liquidity options: dividend payouts, IPO, mergers and acquisitions," Parallel's press service said.

The price of the deal with Cisco has not been revealed, but Cisco will get a seat on Parallels board of directors.

At the end of last year Parallels, which does not disclose financial results, had announced plans to expand its cloud business and solutions based on the Unified Data Center platform by 20-26 per cent annually over the next three years.