Broadcom offers to buy mobile chipmaker Qualcomm for $103 billion

[November 06, 2017]  (Reuters) - Communications chipmaker Broadcom Ltd on Monday said it offered to buy smartphone chip supplier Qualcomm Inc for $70 per share or $103 billion in cash and stock, in what would be the biggest technology acquisition ever.

A tie-up would combine two of the largest makers of wireless communications chips for mobile phones and raise the stakes for Intel Corp, which has been diversifying into smartphone technology from its stronghold in computers.

Broadcom's offer is at a premium of 27.6 percent to Qualcomm's closing price of $54.84 on Thursday, a day before media reports of a potential deal pushed up the company's shares.

Qualcomm shareholders would get $60 in cash and $10 per share in Broadcom shares. Including debt, Broadcom's bid values the transaction at $130 billion.

"In our view, $70 per share wouldn't be sufficient," Nomura Instinet analyst Romit Shah wrote in a client note.

Qualcomm is trying to close its $38-billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors NV, one of the largest makers of chips for vehicles and expanding into self-driving technology.

Broadcom said its proposal stands irrespective of Qualcomm's acquisition of NXP goes through or not.

Broadcom Limited company logo is pictured on an office building in Rancho Bernardo, California May 12, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

Shah believes Broadcom would encourage Qualcomm to complete its NXP acquisition as it has extensive distribution channels, scale and exposure to the fastest growing segments in automotive, where Broadcom is underpenetrated.

Broadcom said BofA Merrill Lynch, Citi, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley have advised that they are highly confident that they will be able to arrange the necessary debt financing for the proposed transaction.

Qualcomm shares, which traded over $70 as recent as December 2016, closed at $61.81 on Friday.

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr)

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