US chipmaker Maxim to acquire Volterra Semiconductor for $605 mn

US analogue chipmaker Maxim Integrated Products Inc yesterday said that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Volterra Semiconductor Corp for approximately $605 million.

California-based Maxim, whose chips are used in Samsung's Galaxy line of smartphones, has offered to pay $23 per share, a 55-per cent premium to Volterra Semiconductor's closing share price on 14 August.

The transaction value is approximately $605 million or $450 million net of Volterra's cash position of approximately $155 million.

California-based Volterra designs, develops, and markets leading edge silicon solutions for low-voltage power delivery. The company's product portfolio is focused on advanced switching regulators for the computer, datacom, storage, and portable markets.

Volterra operates as a fabless semiconductor company focusing on highly-integrated products that enables better performance, smaller form factors, enhanced scalability, improved system management, and lower total cost of ownership.

Maxim, which offers a broad portfolio of products for power conversion - switching regulators, linear regulators, charge pumps, digital Point-of-Load (POL) converters, and Power Management Integrated Circuits, said that at $9 billion, power management is currently the largest and fastest-growing product segment in the analog market, according to Databeans.

"Maxim Integrated is known for its highly integrated solutions. With Volterra, we will strengthen our position in the enterprise and communications markets," said Tunç Doluca, Maxim's president and CEO. "We add a very talented team and leading-edge proprietary technology in high-current power management solutions, which further diversifies our business model."

"This is an attractive transaction for our employees, customers, and investors," said Jeffrey Staszak, Volterra's president and CEO. "The Volterra team will build upon Maxim's scale and market leadership to expand our ability to deliver innovative and differentiated products to our customers."

Maxim, which has a market cap of $8.19 billion and annual revenues of $2.4 billion, plans to fund the deal with cash on hand, which stood at $1.2 billion at the end of 29 June.

Pending regulatory approvals, Maxim expects to close the deal in the December quarter.