Atmel Corp. (ATML)

[Wildbilly]

Atmel buying Wi-Fi/Bluetooth chipmaker for $140M

Atmel is acquiring Newport Media, a maker of TV broadcast and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth chips, for $140M in cash + up to $30M in performance earn-outs over the next 2 years.

With NMI having posted 2013 sales of $43M, Atmel is paying 3.3x-4x trailing sales. The deal will be financed with a mixture of cash on hand and credit facility borrowings, and is expected to become accretive in 2H15.

Atmel declares Newport's low-power Wi-Fi and Bluetooth ICs complement Atmel's microcontrollers, and suggests they're well-suited for embedded/wearables applications (i.e. the proverbial Internet of Things) requiring small form factors and low power draw.

Broadcom, CSR, and Qualcomm's Atheros unit are among the key players in the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth IC market. Microchip recently bought Taiwanese Bluetooth chipmaker ISSC; Apple bought low-power Bluetooth chipmaker Passif Semi last year.

http://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=62821218&symbol=ATML