Chipmaker Cypress Semiconductor Corp. offered to buy smaller rival, Colorado Springs-based Ramtron International Corp. for about $87.6 million, reviving a previously undisclosed bid it made last year but making little change to the overall price.
Cypress said on Tuesday it would offer $2.48 for each Ramtron share, a 37 premium to the stock’s Monday close.
“We believe that our offer provides compelling value to Ramtron’s stockholders,” said T.J. Rodgers, president and chief executive of Cypress. “Last year, we attempted to negotiate an acquisition of Ramtron, but our offer of $3.01 per share…was summarily rejected.”
Lee Brown, Ramtron’s vice president of investor relations and corporate affairs, said the company would have “no comment until we make a formal disclosure.”
Ramtron has approximately 130 to 140 employees and has operations in the United States, Asia and Europe.
Its stock closed up 0.61 to close at $2.42 Tuesday.
In a letter to Ramtron, Rodgers said that he believed an acquisition can be completed “expeditiously” and that the company is prepared to commence a cash tender offer with no financing or due diligence conditions.
Cypress, which makes microcontrollers and chips used in touchscreen phones and tablets, is seeking access to Ramtron’s ferroelectric random-access memory technology, a costlier alternative to flash memory that uses less power and writes faster.
Ramtron licenses its F-RAM technology to Fujitsu Ltd , Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Texas Instruments Inc.
Rodgers set a June 19 deadline for the Ramtron board to respond to the offer.
Reuters contributed to this report.
