Synaptics, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYNA), the touch screen chip maker based in California, in an announcement made today informed the signing of an agreement with regards to the acquisition of Renesas SP Drivers, who are the sole display chip providers of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and the said acquisition is priced at $475 million.
“Upon closing the acquisition, we will have the scale to accelerate our technology roadmap and expand our broad portfolio of human interface product families including display integration solutions,” president and CEO of Synaptics, Rick Bergman said in a statement.
A smart move
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was in talks with Renesas SP Drivers’ Japanese parent company, Renesas Electronics for the acquisition of the chip supplier. The talks took place last month, but they were not a success as informed by Reuters in a report.
Synaptics, Incorporated (NASDAQ:SYNA) chips are majorly used in the Samsung mobile devices and the company has further intentions of integrating its touch technology with display technology from Renesas, which will help the company reduce manufacturing costs.
The president and CEO of Synaptics, Rick Bergman, made a statement with regards to the acquisition of Renesas SP Drivers, and said that with the acquisition it will become possible to unite the complementary technologies with the best-in-class technologies, and also a very experienced and highly skilled engineering team will come on board.
Conclusion later this year
Synaptics, the current leader in supplying touchscreen controller to the mobile display market believes that the acquisition will further strengthen its position with platform level technologies that are unmatched. Synaptics is hopeful that with the purchase of Renesas SP Drivers it will be able to create “significant revenue and investment scale to drive future growth and operating leverage.”
Sometime in the Oct-Dec quarter of 2014 the acquisition is expected to close and is subjected to customary closing conditions along with regulatory reviews. Synaptics is intending to fund the transaction with cash and committed debt financing of $300 million,.
Combining the technical know-how and advance display innovation will become easier for the two companies once the deal is finalized, according to president and CEO of Renesas SP Drivers, Ikuo Kudo.
“The combination of Synaptics and Renesas SP Drivers forms an even stronger market leader with a highly complementary combination of products and technologies,” said Kudo.
