Image source: Intersil Corp.
What happened
Shares of Intersil Corp (ISIL) climbed 9.8% on Tuesday after the U.S.-based semiconductor company agreed to be acquired by Japan's Renasas Electronics Group.
So what?
The announcement confirms a report last month from Reuters, which at the time cited an industry source as stating Renasas was in the "final stages of negotiations" to acquire Intersil for as much as $3 billion.
When all was said and done, Renasas agreed to purchase Intersil for $22.50 per share in cash, representing an equity value for the company of roughly $3.2 billion. This also represents a premium of 43.9% over Intersil's "unaffected price" -- that is, before news of the acquisition broke last month -- and an almost 14% premium to Monday's close.
Now what?
The deal has already been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies. And though it still requires the approval of both Intersil shareholders and government authorities, the transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2017.
Intersil CEO Necip Sayiner added:
As we've embarked on the most recent transformation over the last three years, we have honed the company's core capabilities and focused them on areas where we are uniquely positioned to solve customer system challenges. The success of that strategy and the ability to improve the quality of the business is what has brought us to this next and exciting phase. We see great potential in combining the Intersil and Renesas portfolios and gaining the scale that will provide a platform for accelerated growth.
In the end, with Intersil shares now trading at only a slight discount to the acquisition price, I think investors would be wise to take today's profits and put them to work elsewhere.
