Qualcomm makes US$44b bid for NXP Semiconductors
NEW YORK: United States semiconductor company Qualcomm Inc on Tuesday unveiled a sweetened US$44 billion (RM172.48 billion) agreement to acquire NXP Semiconductors NV, its most defiant move in its defence against a hostile US$121 billion bid from Broadcom Ltd.
The new deal puts pressure on Broadcom to decide if it will stick with a stipulation in its bid that Qualcomm does not raise its offer for NXP. It could strengthen Qualcomm’s defences because it allows its shareholders to better assess the standalone value of Qualcomm as an alternative to a deal with Broadcom.
Qualcomm shares fell 1.3 per cent to US$63.99, significantly below Broadcom’s latest US$82 per share cash-and-stock offer unveiled on February 5 as investors saw the new NXP deal as increasing the chances of Qualcomm repelling Broadcom.
Broadcom said on Tuesday it was evaluating its options in response to Qualcomm’s move and noted that the revised price for NXP was well beyond what Qualcomm had repeatedly characterised as “full and fair”. It called the new deal a transfer of value from Qualcomm shareholders to NXP shareholders.
Qualcomm’s presiding board director Tom Horton argued that the revised deal with NXP represented value for Qualcomm shareholders irrespective of the outcome of the takeover battle with Broadcom.