HERLEV, Denmark--Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. of Camarillo, Calif., announced on Sunday (April 1) that it has agreed to acquire Exbit Technology A/S here to expand its technology for high-speed ICs for communications and networks.
Exbit is a fabless semiconductor company that develops chip sets and intellectual property (IP) cores for high-speed networks and communications. The company employs 62 people, including more than 40 engineers, said Vitesse.
The Danish company has focused its technology on Gigabit and 10-Gigabit Ethernet switching and routing applications with focus on providing complete systems solutions for the networking equipment manufacturers.
In the past year, Vitesse has made several acquisitions to bolster its communications capability, including buying Sitera Inc. and FirstPass Inc. as well as WAN assets of Philips Semiconductors.
In connection with the acquisition, Vitesse will issue approximately 4.4 million shares of its common stock, valued at $104.8 million based on Friday's closing price, in exchange for all outstanding Exbit common stock and upon exercise of outstanding Exbit employee warrants.
Additionally, up to approximately 2.5 million shares of Vitesse common stock, valued at $59.5 million based on Friday's closing price, will be reserved for future issuance to the stockholders and warrant holders of Exbit upon achievement of certain performance goals.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the quarter ending June 30, subject to customary regulatory approvals. The transaction, which will be accounted for as a purchase, is expected to be slightly dilutive to Vitesse's earnings per share on a pro-forma basis by approximately 1 cent per share per quarter for the second half of calendar 2001.
In a prepared statement, Lou Tomasetta, president and chief executive officer of Vitesse, said, "The Ethernet products being developed at Exbit are a perfect complement to our existing product families. Together with Exbit, Vitesse now provides one of the industry's most complete solutions for switching and processing of IP, TDM, and Ethernet data from rates of 10Mbit/s to 40Gbit/s."
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