BEIJING: A China-based consortium, comprising semiconductor industry investors, has agreed to acquire US-based OmniVision Technologies Inc, iPhone’s sensor supplier, for US$1.9 billion, Shanghai Daily learned here the other day.
The consortium was led by Hua Capital Management Co, a Beijing-based private-equity firm which was founded last December with investment from top semiconductor firms and top state-owned enterprises.
The consortium will pay US$29.75 a share in cash to acquire California-based OmniVision. Citic Capital Holdings and GoldStone Investment Co are also members of the consortium.
OmniVision shares have gained 7.3 percent so far this year, valuing the company at US$1.62 billion.
The US company is one of the major camera sensor suppliers in the smartphone market, along with Sony and Samsung.
The acquisition marked another overseas investment in the sector after a Tsinghua University-invested firm acquired Nasdaq-listed chip designer Spreadtrum Communications and a Jiangsu-based firm took over a Singapore-based chip assembly and test firm recently.
Chinese buyers are using takeovers to acquire chip capabilities as the country still lacks key chip technologies and capacities.
In January, Jiangsu Changjiang Electronics Technology Co, the biggest chip tester on the Chinese mainland, said it would buy Singapore-based Stats ChipPac for US$780 million in cash. Stats ChipPac is the world’s fourth-largest chip packager and tester, whose clients include Samsung and Qualcomm.
In 2013, Unisplendour Corp, a subsidiary of Tsinghua University, bought Shanghai-based Nasdaq-listed Spreadtrum for 11 billion yuan (US$1.8 billion).
