Wednesday, December 29, 2021

MACOM sells its equity in Ampere for $127.7M

MACOM has sold its equity interest in Ampere Computingto Denver Acquisition Corp., an affiliate of one of Ampere’s other limited liability company members, for $127.7 million in cash.

Ampere was established in 2017 when MACOM divested its ARM-based compute processor business of Applied Micro Circuits Corporation. In consideration for the divestiture, MACOM received a minority equity interest in Ampere with limited rights. The purchaser exercised its right to purchase all of MACOM’s equity in Ampere for a value that was determined in 2017 at the time Ampere was established.

MACOM to Acquire AppliedMicro for $770 Million

MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings agreed to acquire Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (AppliedMicro") for approximately $8.36 per share, consisting of $3.25 in cash and 0.1089 MACOM shares per share of AppliedMicro. The deal, which represents a 15.4% premium over AppliedMicro's closing price of $7.25 on November 18th, is valued at approximately $770 million. MACOM plans to divest AppliedMicro's non-strategic Compute business within the first 100 days of closing. The company said it is already talking to interested parties.

MACOM said the deal will accelerate its growth in optical technologies for Cloud Service Providers and Enterprise Network customers.

AppliedMicro, which supplies semiconductors for compute and computing in data centers, has approximately $165 million in TTM revenue (including the Compute business) and $82 million of cash and short-term investments. AppliedMicro's leadership PAM4 solutions based on FinFET technology and custom engagements with top-tier Data Center and service provider customers is expected to strengthen MACOM's competitive position with those customers

MACOM and AppliedMicro's pro forma combined TTM revenue was approximately $709 million including AppliedMicro's Compute business, or approximately $644 million excluding the Compute business
AppliedMicro's Connectivity business is highly complementary to MACOM's product portfolio, through the addition of market-leading OTN framers, MACsec Ethernet networking components and the industry's leading single-lambda PAM4 platform

Commenting on the transaction, John Croteau, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "This transaction will accelerate and expand MACOM's breakout opportunity in Enterprise and Cloud Data Centers. MACOM will now be able to provide all the requisite semiconductor content for optical networks - analog, photonic and PHY - from the switch to fiber for long haul, metro, access, backhaul and Data Center. AppliedMicro's 100G to 400G single-lambda PAM4 platform should perfectly complement MACOM's leadership in analog and photonic components for Data Centers.

"Notably, the IEEE recently recommended the adoption of AppliedMicro's single lambda PAM4 solution to be an industry standard for enterprise and Data Center connectivity, positioning this technology as the solution of choice going forward. Additionally, AppliedMicro's Connectivity business aligns well with MACOM's differentiated, high-growth business model, offering non-GAAP gross margins well in excess of MACOM's long term target operating model, long product life cycles, and sticky customer relationships."

"This is an exciting day for AppliedMicro, and we are pleased to be joining forces with MACOM. The transaction affirms the value that our employees have created and provides a strong path forward for our Connectivity business while delivering AppliedMicro stockholders a robust premium," said Paramesh Gopi, President and CEO, AppliedMicro. "This transaction will create an industry powerhouse with the scale, deep customer relationships, innovative technology, and enabling products that will help deliver explosive growth in Enterprise and Cloud Data Centers. In addition, this agreement provides a promising path forward for the Compute business, which is in the process of bringing AppliedMicro's highly-competitive third-generation X-Gene processor to market. X-Gene is well-positioned to address the large opportunity for mainstream server processors with its proven high performance cores, scalable interconnect and high per socket memory capabilities."

http://ir.macom.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1000507

  • M/A-COM Technology Solutions acquired Mindspeed in 2013 for $270 million.
  • M/A-COM acquired Bin Optics in 2014 for $230 million for its Indium Phosphide laser technology.