Freescale Getting Bought Out?

So the big corporate news around the tech world right now is of course AMD’s acquisition of ATI.  When the second biggest developer of PC processors acquires one of the biggest video processor developers in the world, that’s some big news.  Well, equally as big a deal, but flying slightly below the radar, is a private buyout in the works for Freescale Semiconductor.  Freescale, a former unit of Motorola, is one of the largest stand-alone makers of embedded chips and recently became the first semiconductor manufacturer to produce and sell magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) which has theoretical speeds well beyond current flash technology. Since they spun-off from Motorola in July 2004, they have grown 137%. Now, Freescale’s embedded devices are used everywhere from devices you use every day like cellular phones, TV’s, PDA’s and copy machines, to more specialized advanced devices like ECU’s and flight control systems.

The 16 billion dollar deal is being split amongst a group of private investment companies including Texas Pacific Group, Blackstone Group and Permira, according to the report. It is possible that the Carlyle Group and Bain Capital may also jump on the bandwagon.  If this deal goes through, it will be the largest leveraged buyout in the tech sector to date.

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