The world of semiconductor manufacturers grew smaller this week with the news that Microchip Technology was to acquire rival Atmel in a deal valued at a whopping $3.56 billion.
Semiconductor giant Atmel, best known for its ATmega family of microcontroller chips which form the heart of the Arduino ecosystem, has been looking for a buyer since last year. Initially, Dialog Semiconductor was in the frame with talks beginning in September 2015, but Atmel has been holding out for a better offer - and now it has found it in the form of a buyout from Microchip Technology.
Under the deal, Microchip will pay $3.56 billion in cash and shares to acquire Atmel. We are delighted to welcome Atmel employees to Microchip and look forward to closing the transaction and working together to realise the benefits of a combined team pursuing a unified strategy,' claimed Microchip president and chief executive Steve Sanghi of the deal. 'As the semiconductor industry consolidates, Microchip continues to execute a highly successful consolidation strategy with a string of acquisitions that have helped to double our revenue growth rate compared to our organic revenue growth rate over the last few years. The Atmel acquisition is the latest chapter of our growth strategy and will add further operational and customer scale to Microchip.'
'Our Board of Directors determined, after consultation with our financial advisor and outside legal counsel, that the transaction with Microchip is a superior proposal for Atmel’s stockholders under the terms of our merger agreement with Dialog Semiconductor that we terminated today,' claimed Atmel president and chief executive Steven Laub. 'Under the Microchip transaction, Atmel stockholders will receive a much higher cash consideration per share compared to the Dialog deal, as well as the opportunity for further upside through the ownership of stock of Microchip.'
Walking away from the Dialog deal wasn't cheap, however: Atmel has confirmed that its abandoning of the proposed merger in favour of a deal with Microchip resulted in a termination fee of $137.3 million.
Semiconductor giant Atmel, best known for its ATmega family of microcontroller chips which form the heart of the Arduino ecosystem, has been looking for a buyer since last year. Initially, Dialog Semiconductor was in the frame with talks beginning in September 2015, but Atmel has been holding out for a better offer - and now it has found it in the form of a buyout from Microchip Technology.
Under the deal, Microchip will pay $3.56 billion in cash and shares to acquire Atmel. We are delighted to welcome Atmel employees to Microchip and look forward to closing the transaction and working together to realise the benefits of a combined team pursuing a unified strategy,' claimed Microchip president and chief executive Steve Sanghi of the deal. 'As the semiconductor industry consolidates, Microchip continues to execute a highly successful consolidation strategy with a string of acquisitions that have helped to double our revenue growth rate compared to our organic revenue growth rate over the last few years. The Atmel acquisition is the latest chapter of our growth strategy and will add further operational and customer scale to Microchip.'
'Our Board of Directors determined, after consultation with our financial advisor and outside legal counsel, that the transaction with Microchip is a superior proposal for Atmel’s stockholders under the terms of our merger agreement with Dialog Semiconductor that we terminated today,' claimed Atmel president and chief executive Steven Laub. 'Under the Microchip transaction, Atmel stockholders will receive a much higher cash consideration per share compared to the Dialog deal, as well as the opportunity for further upside through the ownership of stock of Microchip.'
Walking away from the Dialog deal wasn't cheap, however: Atmel has confirmed that its abandoning of the proposed merger in favour of a deal with Microchip resulted in a termination fee of $137.3 million.
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October 14 2021 | 15:04
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