News broke Monday that telecommunications equipment maker Tellabs (News - Alert) agreed to be acquired by investment firm Marlin Equity Partners for about $891 million in cash. Officially, the deal has been billed as well-conceived and accepted by everyone in the Tellabs camp; after all, the company’s board of directors unanimously approved the transaction. However, Associated Press (News - Alert) paints a different picture.

Put simply, it seems that this acquisition is something of a lifeline for Tellabs, which has experienced financial and management issues lately.

On the financial side, Tellabs has posted annual losses for the past two years, with analysts expecting another loss for 2013. Earlier this year, the company said it planned to stop development of a new line of routers due to declining sales — a plan that would also entail layoffs.

In terms of management issues, Tellabs lost former CEO Rob Pullen to cancer in July 2012. One month later, the company’s chairman and co-founder Michael J. Birck (News - Alert) stated he would step down at Tellabs’ spring 2013 annual shareholders meeting as he had contracted a rare form of leukemia. Then, this past May, CFO Andrew Szafran resigned for personal reasons.

In other words, it seemed as though Tellabs needed someone to step in and take control of the situation, which Marlin Equity Partners has now done. Indeed, Marlin partner Nick Kaiser stated plans for the company which include renewed focus on research and development, and customer experience.

"We are excited to back the Tellabs team and we view Tellabs' business as an ideal opportunity to capitalize on the growth in the telecom network equipment sector," said Kaiser in a statement. "We are committed to extending Tellabs' market leadership by continuing to make significant investments in research and development, and in providing a superior customer experience."

The deal will see Marlin buy all of Tellabs’ outstanding shares for $2.45 each in cash — a four percent premium over the company’s closing share price on Oct. 18.