Publicly traded Procera, a company that focuses on enhancing broadband experience with traffic analytics, announced this morning that it has entered an acquisition agreement with Francisco Partners, a private equity firm interested in technology investments.

Procera's board of directors has approved the deal, valued at approximately $240 million. A tender offer is expected to come down no later than May 5 and would result in Francisco Partners acquiring all outstanding shares of Procera's common stock at $11.50 per share in cash.

That's a 21 percent premium over yesterday's closing price of $9.51. At press time, Procera shares had risen to $11.42.

Procera is a deep packet inspection (DPI) specialist offering software and analytics tools to carriers, service providers, and enterprises for policy enforcement and quality-of-service (QoS).

The company has drawn less than favorable marks recently from at least one analyst. After Procera missed earnings expectations in October, Simon Leopold of Raymond James dropped coverage in February, writing that the intelligence policy enforcement (IPE) market had long-term promise but that Procera's approach was "mostly a niche technology" that wouldn't provide lasting double-digit growth.