PMC-Sierra to Acquire Agilent's Former Storage Semiconductor Group

PMC-Sierra agreed to acquire Agilent's Semiconductor Products Group, which is currently being acquired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Silver Lake Partners as part of a larger deal, for approximately $425 million in cash.


In August 2005, Agilent Technologies confirmed plans to sell its entire Semiconductor Products division to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) and Silver Lake Partners for $2.66 billion.


The storage semiconductor business of Agilent's Semiconductor Products Group (SPG) is a long-term technology leader in Fibre Channel protocol controllers with its Tachyon product line and is developing next-generation multi-protocol controllers supporting Fibre Channel and SAS/SATA/iSCSI storage systems, as well as other storage-related products. The business operates as the I/O Solutions Division of Agilent's Semiconductor Products Group, employs approximately 240 employees and has design centers located in Santa Clara, Roseville (CA), and Singapore.


PMC-Sierra said the acquisition of this business would strengthen its position in the storage semiconductor market and create one of the industry's most complete end-to-end enterprise storage silicon solutions. When closed, the acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive for PMC-Sierra.


"PMC-Sierra offers one of the most popular lines of Fibre Channel loop switches and SAS/SATA expanders and multiplexers. Our products, architectures, and technology roadmaps are highly complementary with the storage semiconductor business of Agilent and we both have excellent enterprise storage customer relationships," said Bob Bailey, Chairman and CEO, PMC-Sierra. "The combination of the two businesses allows us to significantly expand our presence in the enterprise storage markets."http://www.pmc-sierra.com