BROADCOM OFFERS TO BUY QUALCOMM FOR $103 BN

NEWYORK: Communications chipmaker Broadcom Ltd on Monday said it offered to buy smartphone chip supplier Qualcomm Inc for $70 per share or $103 billion in cash and stock, in what would be the biggest technology acquisition ever. A tie-up would combine two of the largest makers of wireless communications chips for mobile phones and raise the stakes for Intel Corp, which has been diversifying into smartphone technology from its stronghold in computers.

Broadcom’s offer is at a premium of 27.6% to Qualcomm’s closing price of $54.84 on Thursday, a day before media reports of a potential deal pushed up the company’s shares.

Qualcomm shareholders would get $60 in cash and $10 per share in Broadcom shares. Including debt, Broadcom’s bid values the transaction at $130 billion. “In our view, $70 per share wouldn’t be sufficient,” Nomura Instinet analyst Romit Shah wrote in a client note.

Qualcomm is trying to close its $38-billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors NV, one of the largest makers of chips for vehicles and expanding into self-driving technology. Broadcom said its proposal stands irrespective of Qualcomm’s acquisition of NXP goes through or not.