Philips Completes Sale of Chip Unit Stake

Koninklijke Philips Electronics has completed the sale of an 80.1 percent stake in its chip division to a group of private investment houses, the company said Saturday.

The stake in NXP Semiconductors, the new name of the chip unit, was sold to a group including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), Silver Lake Partners and AlpInvest Partners. Philips expects to take in 6.4 billion euros (US$8.12 billion) in cash from the sale, after taxes. The European electronics giant will keep a 19.9 percent share of the business.

Philips said the deal places the value of NXP at 8.3 billion euros.

There have been a number of chip industry deals this year, including a US$17.6 billion offer for Freescale Semiconductor last month. In July, Intel sold its communications and application processor business to Marvell Technology Group for $600 million, and earlier this year, PMC-Sierra acquired the storage semiconductor business formerly owned by Agilent Technologies for $425 million.

-Dan Nystedt, IDG News Service (Taipei Bureau)

Related Links:

• Intel Sells Communications Unit to Marvell for $600M

• Freescale Accepts $17.6B Equity Buyout

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