American chipmaker MaxLinear has agreed to acquire Taiwan-based flash memory manufacturer Silicon Motion Technology Corp for USD3.8 billion. K&L Gates and Latham & Watkins advised Silicon Motion while Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati advised MaxLinear.
MaxLinear will acquire Silicon Motion in a cash-and-stock transaction that values the combined company at USD8 billion. In the merger, each American Depositary Share (ADS) of Silicon Motion will receive USD93.54 in cash and 0.388 shares of MaxLinear common stock, for a total per ADS consideration of USD114.34.
K&L Gates’ team was led by corporate and capital markets partners James Chen in Taipei and Robert Matlin in New York, assisted by partner Billy Chen in Taipei, counsel Richard Hsu in Taipei and associates Yoting Lin in Taipei and Grace Ye in Shanghai.
Latham & Watkins’ team was led by partners Charles Ruck in New York, Christopher Drewry in Chicago and Benjamin Su in Hong Kong, supported by associates Bradley Alvarez in San Fransisco and Chicago-based associates Ryan Baker, Sarah Loiselle, and Brian Baloun.
Wilson Sonsini’s team was led by partners Rob Ishii and Rich Mullen in San Fransisco, with the help of San Fransisco-based associates Emma Sarkisyan and Lindsey Berger, and New York-based associates Molly Manning and Audrey Laryea.
Silicon Motion makes flash memory controllers for solid-state storage devices, as well as supplying data centre drives and specialised drives for industry and vehicles. The merger is projected to double MaxLinear’s total addressable market opportunity and create one of the world’s Top 10 fabless semiconductor companies.
