Veoneer, the Swedish automotive tech company, just got a whole lot costlier. Chipmaker Qualcomm submitted a bid for the company for USD4.6 billion – USD800 million more than Magna International’s USD3.8 billion hit.
Qualcomm’s bid comes in at USD37 per share in an all-cash transaction. A company statement added: “Our offer has been approved by Qualcomm’s Board of Directors, does not require Qualcomm stockholder approval, and has no financing conditions.”
This proposed acquisition is consistent with Qualcomm’s growth and diversification strategy. It reinforces the company’s commitment to bring advanced technologies to the automotive industry and represents a natural extension of Qualcomm’s digital chassis solutions. The company continues to see traction in automotive, with a revenue-design win pipeline of approximately $10 billion.
Cristiano Amon, president and CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated, said: “As the automotive industry continues to transform, it is becoming increasingly important for automakers to have a partner who develops horizontal platforms that drive innovation and enable competition.
“The proposed acquisition will bring together our industry-leading automotive solutions with Veoneer’s assisted driving assets to deliver a competitive and open ADAS platform to automakers and Tier 1 suppliers at scale.”
The transaction represents an 18.4% premium to the $31.25 per share for Veoneer offered by Magna, and an 85.6% premium to Veoneer’s share price as of market close on July 22, 2021, the last trading day prior to the announcement of the Magna offer.
In a letter to Veoneer’s Board of Directors, Amon wrote: “Qualcomm has long admired your company, employees, and, in particular, Arriver. The combination of Arriver’s differentiated Computer Vision, Drive Policy and other Driver Assistance assets, along with Qualcomm’s leading Snapdragon Ride platform, broad technology portfolio and automotive customer traction will enable us to transform the ADAS segment, creating open and competitive platforms for automakers and Tier-1s.”
Qualcomm will fund the transaction with existing cash resources, and therefore, its offer is not subject to any financing contingency or condition.
Veoneer and Magna said in July that both companies’ boards had approved the acquisition.
Veoneer’s decision-making vehicle hardware and software that can perform a limited set of actions under certain conditions, like changing lanes on a highway or emergency braking.
