GPS World

Tag: mergers and acquisitions

  • Breaking Down Samsung’s Purchase of CSR

    By Kevin Dennehy

    There have not been many earth-shaking acquisitions of companies that have location as a big part of their offerings. However, the recent $310 million acquisition of CSR’s handset connectivity and location business by Samsung merits an additional look. CSR, along with Broadcom and Qualcomm, are looking at the indoor location market as a strong one in the next four years. In other news, the Mobile Resource Management market is seeing 20 percent growth—not a market with consumer excitability, but one that makes money.

    The recent $310 million acquisition of CSR’s handset connectivity and location business by Samsung has put a number of competitors on notice. One analyst, Liam Quirke, IMS Research, says that because of GPS’ increasing presence on smartphones, and Samsung now being the largest handset manufacturer, it made sense for Samsung to want to own this part of the supply chain.

    “This complements its already large manufacturing operations that supply a number of smartphone components, including its own Exynos branded application processor — in addition to manufacturing the Apple-designed Ax range of SoCs,” he said.

    The Samsung-CSR transaction refers only to the mobile business (i.e., handsets and tablets). “Samsung’s GPS strategy here is inevitably focused around such devices. The trend within connectivity, particularly in devices with small form factors such as handsets and tablets, has been one of increasing integration,” Quirke said. “Connectivity has been packaged into a single chip with some IC suppliers also including GPS. An example would be Texas Instrument’s WiLink 8 solution. An alternative is to include GPS on the cellular baseband, a route which Qualcomm decided to take and has since begun to integrate into its application processors — and more recently also including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.”

    A number of restrictions placed upon CSR by Samsung, as part of the transaction, prevent CSR from selling a GPS product combined with an application processor into the mobile field for 10 years, hinting that this is a direction Samsung may take in terms of integration and subsequently removing additional potential competition, Quirke said.

    In addition to the $310 million deal, Samsung will invest $34.4 million in return for 4.9 percent stake in the remaining CSR business. The completion of this acquisition is expected to be in the fourth quarter. Quirke said that as well as picking up the benefit of CSR’s patent portfolio, the acquisition also adds the research and development and marketing support for its Bluetooth and GPS technology for handsets.

    The deal follows Samsung’s acquisition in June of Nanoradio, a developer of ultra-low power Wireless LAN for chipsets for devices such as smartphones and tablets, Quirke said. It also  provides Samsung with the connectivity technologies with which to make an entrance into the wireless connectivity market.

    During former founder Kanwar Chadha’s tenure at SiRF, which merged with CSR in 2009, the company acquired the GPS businesses of Motorola and Conexant as well some smaller companies such as Centrality, Enuvis, Impulsesoft, Kisel, and TrueSpan.

    Indoor Location Market Will Be Important to CSR

    CSR, along with competitor Broadcom, has become increasingly involved in the indoor location market, with the announcement of its SiRFusion location platform in November. However, Quirke said that the finer details of the transaction between Samsung and CSR indicate that Samsung has only purchased the technology license for GPS, not indoor location. “If correct, this means CSR is free to sell its indoor location technology to other handset OEMs, and in the reverse means that Samsung is not able to do this,” he said.

    With that in mind, indoor location is one of the five key growth areas that CSR is targeting, Quirke said.  “Indoor location, and the various applications associated with it, is centred around mobile devices and, as such, is why I feel CSR was eager to hold on to this portion of their mobile business. Indoor location remains a nascent market with much potential, particularly when considering the opportunity to provide highly targeted marketing material in commercial venues such as shopping malls — not to mention the opportunity in the enterprise space,” he said.

    IMS predicts in its “Indoor Positioning, Mapping, Technology and Services 2012” study that 110,000 supermarkets, shopping malls, or large retail stores will have indoor maps by 2016, making extensive use of indoor location technology.

    CSR has struggled in the mobile space in recent years, while Broadcom and Qualcomm have continued to succeed on the back of their strengths in connectivity combining ICs and cellular baseband chips, respectively, Quirke said.  “Current indoor location solutions offered by the major IC suppliers reside on the GPS chip itself, making use of a number of wireless technologies and MEMS sensors. In light of this, CSR will need to provide a compelling reason for a handset manufacturer to choose its indoor location solution over one from Broadcom or Qualcomm,” he said.  “On a more positive note, early indications suggest that CSR’s solution may be slightly ahead, in terms of providing an accurate working solution — of those from Broadcom and Qualcomm.”

    Enterprise Market Strong…

    In other industry news, the leading suppliers of GPS fleet management solutions for the local fleet and enterprise markets are continuing to grow at a strong rate, nearly 20 per year, said Clem Driscoll, president of CJ Driscoll Associates.

    “FleetMatics, the largest supplier to small fleets, filed an S1 in May and the IPO is expected in the near future. Telogis continues its wave of acquisitions, most recently NavTrak, said Driscoll, who has completed his “2012-2013 Mobile Resource Management Systems Market Study” that profiles 100 MRM suppliers in several markets.

    A strong trend in MRM for both local fleets and the trucking sector is monitoring driver behavior, Driscoll said. “Many suppliers monitor speeding, acceleration, deceleration, speed on turns, etc., and generate driver scorecards to identify the best and riskiest drivers,” he said. “This monitoring of driver performance, along with engine idling time and route adherence, also helps fleet operators minimize fuel consumption, which is a major concern these days.”

  • Telogis Acquires Fleet Management Company Navtrak

    Telogis, Inc., a platform for location intelligence, has acquired Navtrak, a mobile resource and fleet management company. This latest acquisition, along with the company’s strong organic growth rate, further positions Telogis as a fast-growing enterprise Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider of location-based intelligence solutions, the company said.

    “This acquisition broadens our customer portfolio with greater reach into small- and mid-sized markets, and complements our strong organic growth with large enterprises and OEM channels,” said Dave Cozzens, CEO of Telogis. “Our robust, scalable platform allows us to quickly integrate acquisitions, and we continue to pursue opportunities such as this that are advantageous for our business and customers.”

    Telogis provides enterprise SaaS applications to manage mobile workers and assets. The company’s strength is built upon an open platform approach that provides advanced solutions to manage every aspect of the mobile workforce, the company said.

    “Navtrak’s customers will now experience the benefits of a powerful location platform of SaaS applications, including Telogis Fleet, Telogis Route, Telogis Progression, Telogis Mobile, and Telogis Navigation,” said Cozzens. “This acquisition further accelerates our aggressive expansion plans for 2012. There is a large global market to address with our platform of SaaS applications, and we look forward to continuing to drive its innovation and growth.”

    This acquisition represents a continuing growth trend for Telogis, which has appeared on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies for five consecutive years and has been named to the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 for four consecutive years. The company has been honored as one of the best workplaces in the region, and forged a partnership in 2011 that made Telogis the exclusive SaaS solution for Ford Motor Company’s Crew Chief commercial vehicle telematics system.

  • TerraGo Acquires Geosemble Technologies

    TerraGo Technologies Inc. has acquired the complementary software products and technologies of Manhattan Beach, CA-based Geosemble Technologies Inc. Terms between the privately held companies were not disclosed. Both firms are In-Q-Tel portfolio companies.

    According to the announcement, Geosemble’s flagship product, GeoXray automates the process of discovering, geospatially visualizing, monitoring and sharing relevant unstructured information from any source. The software mines and processes content from news, blogs and social media and analyzes data by place, time and topic. GeoXray decreases the amount of time analysts spend sifting through big data and produces more germane information specific to an area of interest. The solution, which is used by a number of intelligence agencies, frees analysts to spend more time on quality analysis and enables better collaboration with peers, decision makers and field personnel.

    TerraGo reports that the strategic acquisition of Geosemble builds on TerraGo’s growing geospatial intelligence applications and reports expertise. The combined companies’ solutions will now enable users to selectively discover relevant spatial content; compose dynamic, interactive geospatial intelligence applications and reports; and collaborate in online and disconnected environments. The new TerraGo suite of solutions will facilitate enhanced situational awareness and actionable intelligence for better planning, improved decision making and faster response.

    Founded in December of 2004, TerraGo reported that Geosemble is a spin-off from the University of Southern California (USC). Its founders are computer science faculty members and originally developed the company’s core artificial intelligence and geospatial data analysis algorithms at USC. The technology has since been strengthened and refined to apply to a range of government and commercial user needs focused on automatically discovering and integrating information into satellite and aerial imagery and maps. The Geosemble business and technical team will be brought into TerraGo as the Geosemble solutions group, and the office in Manhattan Beach will be expanded to accommodate additional engineering staff as well as support resources to serve TerraGo’s growing West Coast customer base. Both firms are In-Q-Tel portfolio companies. 

    “The strategic acquisition of Geosemble will enable our customers to discover, visualize, monitor and share geospatial intelligence relevant to their operations and areas of interest,” said TerraGo Pres. and CEO Rick Cobb. “We warmly welcome our new colleagues to the TerraGo team, which, as always, remains committed to our tradition of product innovation and dedication to customer success.”

    “This union is a perfect fit for Geosemble since TerraGo brings valuable distribution, implementation and customer support capability to Geosemble’s products, in addition to TerraGo’s own valuable suite of complementary technology. The combined resources of our companies will enable us to further develop advanced geospatial intelligence solutions for our existing defense and intelligence customers as well as others in crisis management, public safety and a wide range of commercial businesses,” said Andre Doumitt, former Geosemble CEO and now TerraGo vice president of business development for Geosemble solutions.

  • Esri Acquires Location Analytics Developer GeoIQ

    Esri announced that GeoIQ, a small geo-location company based in Arlington, Virginia, will be joining their organization. The addition of GeoIQ’s team will strengthen Esri’s capabilities in the areas of user experience design, web development and cloud-based applications.

    "We are excited to join the Esri family, integrating our technology and extending the Esri platform,” says Sean Gorman, founder of GeoIQ.  “Esri’s approach to ‘GIS for Everyone’ is transformational in the industry and is very closely aligned with GeoIQ’s vision, so we are extremely excited about working together.” 

    “We believe this will help us supplement our capabilities in delivering simple geospatial solutions for our customers around the world as well as the rapidly growing web developer and content delivery communities,” said Jack Dangermond, president, Esri.

    According to the announcement, GeoIQ staff will join Esri at a new software development center located in Washington, D.C. and extend the ArcGIS platform with special emphasis on federal government clients in the areas of self-service mapping, analytics, big data, content streaming and social media. This center will also support web developers that are focusing on geo-enabling their web solutions with Esri’s geospatial platform. Existing GeoIQ users will continue to be supported. 

  • Acquisition of Cognovo Gives u-blox Own 4G Chip Technology

    u-blox, a positioning and wireless semiconductors, announces the acquisition of UK-based Cognovo Ltd., a company specializing in software defined modem (SDM) chip development technology. The acquisition extends u-blox’ chip design capabilities to create differentiated products for strategic markets that require 4G communications combined with global positioning.

     

    “This is a very exciting acquisition for u-blox as it positions us as an agile and cost-effective supplier of high-speed wireless modem products based on our own chip IP. This allows us to meet market demand for connected systems that require positioning, connectivity and application-specific functionality on a single integrated circuit,” said Thomas Seiler, u-blox CEO. “This new foundation broadens our serviceable market, and will increase our margins in the automotive, consumer, and industrial sectors. Our first 4G product is planned for 2013.”

     

    Cognovo’s Software Defined Modem (SDM) technology and development tools quickly translate complex radio modem designs into fully characterized low-power semiconductor chips, u-blox said. The combination of technologies from Cognovo and the recently acquired 4M Wireless will result in a new wireless modem platform based on IP owned by u-blox.

     

    Cognovo has already demonstrated its SDM baseband chip running high-speed 4G cellular functionality working with the LTE protocol stack from 4M Wireless at Mobile World Congress. With these acquisitions, u‑blox lays the groundwork for establishing a leading position in 4G wireless modems similar to the strategy that u-blox followed to become a market leader in GPS/GNSS modules, u-blox said. The market for 4G modems used for machine-to-machine (M2M) applications is predicted to grow rapidly, surpassing 20 million units by 2016.

     

    “We are very pleased to deploy our SDM technology within u-blox,” said Gordon Aspin, Cognovo CEO. “With over 300 man-years of R&D invested in our SDM technology, this acquisition brings together the industry’s most advanced software modem development platform with some of the best IC design and GNSS engineers in the world. This will be an unbeatable team.”

     

    Key terms of the transaction include:

    • Acquisition of 100% of the shares of Cognovo Ltd at a price of 16.5 million US.
    • Acquisition of key intellectual property and software.
    • Integration of the Cognovo business and 30 employees into u-blox’ organization.

  • Hexagon Acquires Norwegian Software Company myVR

    Hexagon AB announced it has acquired all shares in the Norwegian company My Virtual Reality Software AS (myVR).

    According to the announcement, myVR provides software that offers a solution for 2D, 3D and 360-degree viewing for desktop and mobile. The company has developed a patented technology platform that enables high-resolution real-time viewing of interactive maps over networks with limited bandwidth. The platform makes it possible to view large-scale models on any 3D hardware-supported client platform, including mobile phones and tablets.

    myVR 3D Map

    "The acquisition of myVR will be of great value for Hexagon's current offerings. Everything is going mobile, including our customer offerings," said Ola Rollén, President and CEO, Hexagon AB. "In the past, the problem with displaying 3D data on a mobile device such as a tablet has been size limitations of data transfers, and also the ability to handle the transfer in a real-time environment. myVR has a unique solution to this problem, and Hexagon will make use of its technology in all of our divisions."

    Founded in 2003, myVR provides real-time, 3D virtual technology to the Oil & Gas, Building & Construction, Government and Web Portals industries, as well as other traditional and emerging digital markets.

    Hexagon announced that myVR will be fully consolidated as of today. The acquisition will not have any visible impact on Hexagon's earnings in the short-term.

  • Telogis Acquires Maptuit Assets

    Telogis, Inc. announces the acquisition of the assets of Maptuit, a leading provider of connected navigation for commercial fleets. This acquisition — the company’s fifth in three years — expands Telogis’ services as the market increases adoption of location-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions. Maptuit’s commercial navigation technologies further enhance the Telogis enterprise platform of SaaS solutions, which includes fleet management, navigation, multi-vehicle route optimization and planning, work order management and mobile integration.

     

    “This acquisition adds a new dimension to our platform,” said Newth Morris, president, Telogis Route and Telogis Mobile. “With these advances, Telogis further differentiates itself in the market by providing the most comprehensive suite of location intelligence solutions on a single platform.”   

    According to the announcement, the enhancements to the Telogis platform resulting from this acquisition include an advanced location-based service (LBS) engine that receives feedback from the field on road conditions and physical restrictions that may not be captured by commercial and open source map data. These capabilities are critical not only to the commercial navigation markets where Maptuit has been successful, but also to industries such as mining, and oil and gas, which operate in remote regions where map data coverage is limited.

    Maptuit’s technologies also allow companies to specify “known-good” routes and yard-approaches. These capabilities help companies improve the safety of route operations and are increasingly important in international markets where bonded routes exist.

    Telogis reports it will integrate Maptuit’s technologies directly into its enterprise platform, thereby expanding the Telogis customer base by more than 100,000 subscribers.

    “The commercial navigation technologies that Maptuit has revolutionized will enhance all of the applications on our platform — route planning, navigation, execution analytics — and position our company to best handle the growing location intelligence needs of companies worldwide,” said Morris. “This acquisition complements the Telogis platform with a unique set of high-value capabilities that allow companies to dramatically transform their operations, improve safety and lower operating costs.”

  • Is Google’s Acquisition of Motorola Mobility an Attempt to Control Location Biz?

    Google is at it again. This time Motorola Mobility is on the buying block. What does this mean to the location-based services market? Another potential location platform market closed off? Some industry experts believe this is the case. In addition, Iridium and TeleNav are making LBS news with recent product launches and acquisitions.

     

    The recent $12.5-billion Google acquisition of Motorola Mobility has some industry experts saying that the location market piece of pie is getting smaller every time the search giant makes a deal.

    “I think with Google controlling both the hardware and software stack of the Android ecosystem it will be hard for any technology company to work with Motorola. They want to own the whole shooting match for themselves,” said Ted Morgan, Skyhook Wireless CEO.

    Boston-based Skyhook is suing Google for allegedly using tactics to block Motorola Mobility and Samsung from contracts that use the company Wi-Fi-based tracking system in Android smartphones.

    Many industry experts have said that the main makers of Google Android smartphones should feel challenged as well as the company has seemingly gone into business against them.

    Google has made many moves into the location business in the last two years. It is trying to grab a large share of the European traffic market by offering real-time services in 13 European companies. Google shook up the navigation market with free navigation service for Android phones in 2009. Last month, LBS Insider detailed Google’s purchase of The Dealmap, which offers a location-based daily deal service.

    Google’s acquisition of Motorola is another step in a development strategy that appears to be aimed at increasing the company’s ability to compete across multiple markets that are served by mobile computing, said Mike Dobson, Telemapics president, author of Exploring Local. “[This is] supplemented by the company’s ability to supply its customers proprietary content that can provide a unique and informed world view whether those customers are at home or on the road exploring new geographies,” he said.

    Dobson says that Google clearly wants to compete on a level playing field with Apple and appears to feel that the only way they can do so is to acquire one of the premier manufacturers of mobile phones. “While Google had hoped to control the mobile market by developing Android, doing so has not allowed them the gather the strategic control of phone design, pricing, positioning, placement, or distribution,” he said. “Conversely, Apple has been able to bring mobile phones to the marketplace whose features, functionality, and looks have generated a design revolution that has enchanted consumers in a manner dissimilar to anything we have ever seen in the mobile marketplace.”

    Although Motorola’s brand has been tarnished in recent years, it is clearly the case that they are an extraordinarily talented developer of popular mobile devices that continue to stretch to boundaries of the capabilities of the cell phone world, said Dobson, who believes that this is evidenced by the fervor of anticipation surround the current release of the dual-core, 4G LTE compatible Motorola Droid Bionic.

    Motorola’s design team, however, does not appear to understand the consumer mobile phone market with the same ability to interleave design and hardware functionality that is the hallmark of all Apple products, including the iPhone. “Nor do I believe that Google has the capabilities, as of this time, at least, to remedy this situation,” he said.

    Dobson said that Google’s proposed acquisition of Motorola, coupled with those like its acquisition of Zagat’s and proposed acquisition of ITA Software, an airline ticketing company, seems to indicate that Google is interested not only in providing the platform and OS, but also the common content that might be of interest to users of their mobile devices. “When Google’s control of key content is wrapped within the control of the delivery platform and nested within the Internet’s most successful advertising delivery platform, AdSense/AdWord, it would appear that Google will have advantages in the mobile world far superior to any company that currently exists,” he said.

    Now that the U.S. government has blocked AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile, all eyes are on Google’s newest purchase. Dobson has said that while it is impossible to estimate the size and data usage total that can be attributed to location services, there is little reason to assume that it does not mirror the growing trend in data growth.

    At the time the AT&T/T-Mobile deal was announced, Dobson told LBS Insider that if AT&T can advantage itself by easing its spectrum crunch through the acquisition, it could result in the company being more interested in navigation and LBS than in the past.

    Iridium Making LBS Foray

    As GPS World reported, McLean, Va.-based Iridium Communications announced that its Iridium Force strategy will include LBS and M2M to grow its personal mobile satellite capabilities beyond satellite phones. The new capability enables communication with Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops. The Iridium Extreme, which is the company’s smallest, will be connected to online portals with GPS and LBS capabilities.

    The company also says that Iridum Tracking Portals allow customers to access location monitoring that show real-time status and location, scheduling regular check-ins, geo-fencing, and other features.

    In a July interview with LBS Insider, Patrick Shay, Iridium vice president and general manager for data services, said that the machine-to-machine market constitutes the company’s fastest growing segment. The company said it reached 500,000 total billable subscribers for its satellite voice and data services worldwide. The breakdown of subscribers includes 90 percent commercial customers and 10 percent U.S. government customers.

    TeleNav Buys LBS Firm Goby

    In a smaller acquisition, of which financial details were not disclosed, TeleNav purchased Boston-based Goby, a local and travel search startup that focuses on mobile applications — and will look at advertising revenue models.

    TeleNav has been tight-lipped about the acquisition, only saying that they are impressed with the small company and its personnel and technology. Published reports indicate that the company, and 10 employees, are staying in Boston.

  • CSR Completes SiRF Acquisition

    England’s CSR plc and U.S.-based SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc., have completed their merger, ending years of speculation over what may become of SiRF, a pioneering maker of GPS receivers that had become financially troubled during the current economic downturn.

    “In bringing together the combined capabilities and broad range of CSR and SiRF technologies and platforms, we have created a new force in the industry and a world class organization with the commercial, technical and operational scale to build on CSR and SiRF’s existing customer relationships and deliver the next generation of connectivity and location enabled products,” said Joep van Beurden, CSR CEO. “Our strategic goal is to address the existing and emerging needs of our combined customer base for connectivity and location technologies. The potential applications and benefits to the end user of connectivity plus location are only just starting to open up, and these exciting new opportunities will be driven by our unique combination of leading location technologies and connectivity solutions.”

    SiRF co-founder Kanwar Chadha echoed those sentiments. “CSR and SiRF have a shared vision of using innovation to bring the benefits of wireless connectivity and location to mainstream consumers and enterprises and to enable new and exciting user experiences,” said Chadha, now a CSR board member and chief marketing officer. “We believe that through this merger, our customers and consumers will derive benefits from a much stronger player whose focus is on delivering best in class connectivity and location platforms.”

    For CSR’s customers, the merger with SiRF means CSR’s Connectivity Centre products are augmented by GPS technologies, including assisted GPS (A-GPS), dead reckoning, and location centric platforms, the companies said. Meanwhile, SiRF’s customers will see enhancements to SiRF’s location platforms with CSR’s Connectivity Centre capabilities.

    The enlarged CSR group will have its global headquarters in Cambridge, United Kingdom, with SiRF’s headquarters remaining in San Jose, California, which will also serve as CSR’s U.S. headquarters. The combined CSR group is now among the top 10 fabless semiconductor companies, with a combined customer list including six of the top seven handset manufacturers, the top five personal navigation device makers, the top two automotive telematics suppliers, and other auto and consumer electronics providers, CSR said.

  • CSR and SiRF Complete Merger

    CSR plc of Cambridge, UK, and SiRF Technology Holdings Inc., of San Jose, California, on June 26 completed the merger between SiRF and a wholly owned subsidiary of CSR. The merger resulted in “creating a provider of connectivity and location platforms and a company with the scale, technology, and strategy to enable its customers to address the exciting and emerging opportunities in mobile markets,” according to a company statement.

    The company said that customers of the enlarged CSR group will be able to deliver new user experiences of connectivity and location technologies in a diverse range of devices such as mobile phones, personal navigation devices, in-car navigation and telematics systems, laptop and netbook PCs, mobile internet devices, digital cameras, gaming machines, cellular accessories, and consumer electronic devices.

    “In bringing together the combined capabilities and broad range of CSR and SiRF technologies and platforms, we have created a new force in the industry and a world-class organization with the commercial, technical and operational scale to build on CSR and SiRF’s existing customer relationships and deliver the next generation of connectivity and location enabled products,” said Joep van Beurden, CEO of CSR. “Our strategic goal is to address the existing and emerging needs of our combined customer base for connectivity and location technologies. The potential applications and benefits to the end user of connectivity plus location are only just starting to open up, and these exciting new opportunities will be driven by our unique combination of leading location technologies and connectivity solutions.”

    “CSR and SiRF have a shared vision of using innovation to bring the benefits of wireless connectivity and location to mainstream consumers and enterprises and to enable new and exciting user experiences”, said Kanwar Chadha, co-founder of SiRF and newly appointed board member and chief marketing officer of CSR. “We believe that through this merger, our customers and consumers will derive benefits from a much stronger player whose focus is on delivering best in class connectivity and location platforms.”

    “Technology innovation represents the foundation for both CSR’s and SiRF’s success in the market place,” said James Collier, co-founder, board member and Chief Technology Officer of CSR.  “We look forward to combining the complementary expertise of our teams to take innovation to the next level in our multifunction radio and system platforms to address emerging customer and market needs.”

    For CSR’s customers, the merger with SiRF means CSR’s Connectivity Centre products are augmented by GPS technologies that are well respected and enjoy widespread adoption, the company said, while SiRF brings to CSR a strong IP portfolio in GPS and assisted GPS (A-GPS), dead reckoning, and location centric platforms. 
The enlarged CSR group will have its global headquarters in Cambridge, UK, with SiRF’s headquarters in San Jose becoming CSR’s U.S. headquarters.

  • SiRF and CSR to Merge

    SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc., based in San Jose, California, and CSR plc, formerly Cambridge Silicon Radio, headquartered in Cambridge, UK, will merge in a stock-for-stock transaction to create a new company, which will automatically assume a competitive/leading position in global connectivity and location markets. The companies expect the transaction to close in the second quarter of 2009.

    “Financially, strategically and commercially, this is a compelling transaction,” stated Joep van Beurden, CEO of CSR — and analysts would almost universally agree. SiRF has been under the financial microscope since troubles surfaced in Q1 2008, and speculation about an acquisition had been rife.

    Further, SiRF has been locked in a patent battle with Broadcom, the latter involved through its July 2007 acquisition of Global Locate.

    CSR has made its mark in the Bluetooth connectivity sector, combining multiple connectivity technologies, while SiRF has long pioneered GPS location with multifunction system-on-chip (SoC) location platforms for consumer handhelds and cell phones. In January 2007, CSR purchased GNSS software receiver innovator NordNav.

    For the moment, Qualcomm CDMA sits on the sidelines, but a significant and long-going market battle continues between (now) the big three in the mass market OEM GPS chip sector: Broadcom, Qualcomm, CSR — with Sony and Panasonic also quietly going about their business, primarily making GPS chips for their own brand devices, but certainly in a position to supply others, if they are not doing so already.

    Based on CSR’s and SiRF’s results for fiscal year 2008, on a pro forma basis, the combined companies would have had sales of approximately $927 million. The combination will create the single largest pure play provider of integrated connectivity and location platforms and will be one of the top 10 fabless semiconductor companies in the world, according to a joint statement by the two. Customers of the combined company include four of the top five handset manufacturers, the top five personal navigation device makers, the top two auto-telematics suppliers, and other leading auto and consumer electronics providers. CSR and SiRF will have design and customer support centers around the world.

    Under the terms of the agreement, SiRF stockholders will receive 0.741 of a CSR share for each share of SiRF common stock they own. Based on the closing stock price for CSR on February 9, this consideration would be equivalent to $2.06 of CSR stock for each SiRF share, representing total consideration of $136 million. This represents a premium to SiRF stockholders of approximately 91% over SiRF’s closing stock price on February 9. On closing of the transaction, SiRF stockholders are expected to own approximately 27% and CSR shareholders are expected to own approximately 73% of the combined company. The transaction is expected to be tax-free for SiRF stockholders.

    SiRF, listed on the NASDAQ exchange, generated revenues of $232 million in 2008, and had gross assets of $195 million as of December 27, 2008.

    CSR is listed on the London Stock Exchange. CSR’s customers include industry leaders such as Audi, Ford, LG, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Panasonic, RIM, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TomTo,m and Toshiba. CSR has its headquarters and offices in Cambridge, UK, and offices in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, India, France, Denmark, Sweden, and both Dallas and Detroit in the USA.

    According to the companies, the transaction proffers the following benefits to both the companies themselves and their stockholders:

    Combined Product Roadmap for Next-Generation Chips. The combined company will have significant R&D resources to deliver a broader portfolio of location and connectivity solutions to customers. R&D efforts will continue to support each company’s existing product lines and will also be focused on the delivery of additional multifunction radio chips, which combine CSR’s Bluetooth and other connectivity capabilities with SiRF’s GPS and GNSS technologies.

    Growing Market Opportunities and Revenue Synergies. The combined company will benefit from significantly increased scale to meet the demand for both connectivity and location services in a broad range of products spanning mobile phones, automobiles, personal computers, mobile Internet devices, digital cameras, mobile gaming, and other consumer electronics products. The companies expect to achieve significant additional revenue synergies beginning in 2010 and beyond through a combination of cross-selling opportunities, deeper penetration of existing customers, new product offerings combining complementary technologies, and access to new markets.

    Financial Synergies. The companies expect that annual cost synergies of at least $35 million in savings from gross margin improvements and reduced R&D, sales and marketing, and overhead costs can be achieved through steps that can be implemented within 60 days post completion of this transaction.

    Financial Strength and Flexibility. The combined company is expected to have a strong balance sheet and cash position. At the end of fiscal year 2008, on a pro forma basis, the combined company had $378 million in cash and no bank debt.

    Following the close of the transaction, CSR’s board of directors will be expanded to add two members of the SiRF board, interim CEO Dado Banatao and co-founder and VP of marketing Kanwar Chadha. Van Beurden will lead the combined company as CEO with the remaining leadership to be comprised of executives from both SiRF and CSR. The combined company will be headquartered in Cambridge (United Kingdom), and SiRF’s San Jose, California, headquarters will become the headquarters for CSR’s U.S. operations.

    The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and the approval of SiRF and CSR shareholders.

    More information can be found at www.csr.com.

  • TomTom – Tele Atlas Merger a Done Deal

    Following the announcement that Tele Atlas was making management changes in light of the pending merger, TomTom says that it has completed the merger of digital map supplier Tele Atlas.

    TomTom and Tele Atlas jointly announced Thursday, June 5, that TomTom “declares the recommended public offer for all issued and outstanding shares with a nominal value of €0.10 each in the capital of Tele Atlas unconditional.” TomTom said it will grant shareholders who have not yet tendered their shares under the offer to tender their shares in a post-acceptance period lasting until June 26; these shares are less than 3 percent of the total Tele Atlas shares.

    TomTom has been pursuing a merger with the digital map data supplier for nearly a year, outbidding rival Garmin in the process, in a deal worth approximately €2.9 billion ($4.5 billion). After a lengthy review by European anti-trust officials, TomTom and Tele Atlas received approval for the merger in May.

    Earlier this week the companies announced that during the acceptance period, which ended May 30, some 63,625,232 shares had been tendered for acceptance. Together with the 27,235,651 shares already held by TomTom and 1,685,000 shares to be delivered by Tele Atlas board members, the shares totaled 92,545,883, or 97.48% percent of the total issued and outstanding shares of Tele Atlas capital.

    As soon as legally possible, TomTom intends to remove Tele Atlas’ listings on European financial markets. The company also reiterated that it may initiate any of the reorganization measures as set out in the terms of its offer, which includes the possibility of a squeeze-out procedure.