Renesas to snap up Sequans for $249m
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Renesas Electronics is planning to buy its French cellular IoT partner Sequans in a deal worth $249 million.
Renesas and Sequans have signed a deal to start a tender for shares if there is a successful consultation with the Sequans works council. At $3.03 per share, the $249 million deal is a 42.3% premium on Sequans’ closing price on August 4, but just 7.7% on the volume weighted average price over the last twelve months.
- Renesas moves away from uncancellable contracts as inventory builds
- Renesas aim at smart homes with Sequans cellular NB-IoT
A successful acquisition would put Renesas head to head with Sony, which acquired Israeli cellular IoT module maker Altair back in 2016.
The deal is expected to close by the first quarter of calendar year 2024, subject to confirmation of tax treatment from relevant authorities, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
The two companies have been working together since 2020 on modules that combine Renesas’ embedded processors and analog front-end products with Sequans’ wireless chipsets for massive IoT and broadband IoT applications.
“We have been working closely with Renesas to serve the growing market demand for massive IoT and broadband IoT customers,” said Georges Karam, Chairman and CEO of Sequans. “As many telecom operators around the world continue to invest in 5G infrastructure and with the expanding deployment of IoT applications, combining with Renesas opens up vast opportunities to usher in a new era of seamless connectivity and digital mobility that can transform a multitude of industries.”
- Renesas expands into NFC with Panthronics acquisition
- Renesas completes €4.8bn acquisition of Dialog
- Renesas buys edge AI tool developer
- Renesas Wi-Fi 7 and 6/6E roadmap based on Celeno tech
This accelerates the acquisition trail at Renesas for connectivity technologies, with the strategic acquisitions of Dialog, Celeno and, most recently, Panthronics. Once the deal is complete, the Sequans cellular connectivity products and IP will be integrated into the Renesas core product lineup, including microcontrollers, microprocessors, analog and mixed signal front ends.
The acquisition will allow Renesas to immediately expand its reach to the Wide Area Network (WAN) market space encompassing a broad range of data rates. It will also enhance the Renesas portfolio of Personal Area Network (PAN) and Local Area Network (LAN) modules.
- Semtech buys Sierra Wireless in $1.2bn deal
- ST goes in house for NB-IoT module
- World’s smallest LTE-M/NB-IoT SiP module
Renesas sees the market for cellular IoT technology growing rapidly, fuelled by demand for smart meters, asset tracking systems, smart homes, smart cities, connected vehicles, fixed wireless access networks, and mobile computing devices. An industry study forecasts the number of cellular IoT devices will have annual growth of over 10%, targeted by a range of companies. These include the combination of Semtech and Sierra Wireless as well as Nordic Semiconductor and STMicroelectronics.
“We are thrilled to take our partnership with Sequans to the next level,” said Hidetoshi Shibata, President and CEO of Renesas. “Sequans is a leader in the fast-growing cellular IoT market with wide cellular IoT network coverage. The company’s technology gives Renesas a path to offer broad connectivity capabilities across IoT applications to address the evolving customer needs.”
- Nordic teams for IoT software SIM
- Nordic ports TinyML to cellular IoT chip
- Ubiik partners with Realtek on NB-IoT module for utilities
Fabless Sequans was founded in 2003 and designs chipsets and modules for Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Offering products with extensive 5G/4G cellular categories, including 5G NR, Cat 4, Cat 1 and LTE-M/NB-IoT, Sequans provides reliable IoT wireless connectivity without the need for a gateway.
www.sequans.com; www.renesas.com
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