Intersil buys mixed-signal video solutions provider

Intersil Corp. will acquire Techwell Inc. through a cash tender offer at $18.50 per share, or approximately $370 million.

Techwell, with over 200 employees in the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, is a fabless semiconductor company that designs and sells mixed-signal video solutions for the security surveillance and automotive infotainment markets. Techwell's products enable the conversion of analog video signals to digital form and perform advanced digital video processing to facilitate the display, storage and transport of video content. Major applications using Techwell products include industrial DVRs, networked video recorders, multiplexers, as well as automotive front consoles, rearview mirrors and rear seat LCD displays.

"Techwell's team and products will expand our leadership in two high-growth industrial markets," said Dave Bell, Intersil's president and CEO. "The addition of Techwell's mixed signal video products will help our customers build solutions that improve performance, reduce overall cost and shorten time-to-market. In addition, the acquisition will significantly increase our overall industrial business, which will become our largest end market at approximately 31 percent of revenue."

"We are very excited to join the Intersil family," said Hiro Kozato, Techwell's president and CEO. "This combination will help us deliver a much broader product offering in Techwell's end markets. Intersil's customer relationships will create numerous new opportunities for the combined company," said Mr. Kozato.

The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Intersil's 2010 earnings, excluding one-time costs and other acquisition-related charges.