Violet restarts overseas mergers and acquisitions: Acquires French semiconductor manufacturer Linxens for US$2.6 billion

According to US media reports, five people familiar with the matter said that Tsinghua Unisplendancy signed a merger agreement with French smart chip component manufacturer Linxens to acquire the latter for about 2.2 billion euros ($2.6 billion). Although the agreement was signed a month ago, It has not been made public. Three of them said that Tsinghua Unisplendancy will acquire Linxens from private equity firm CVC. The agreement still needs to be approved by the regulatory authorities, including the regulatory authorities of France, Germany and the company's trade unions. It is expected that governments will not object. Since this news is confidential, the insider did not disclose his identity. In this regard, Tsinghua Unisplendour and Linxens did not respond to the request for comment.

The acquisition was the first overseas acquisition by Tsinghua Unisplendour in two years. Three people said that Tsinghua Unisplends to get 1.5 billion euros (about $1.75 billion) in bridge loans to four banks. The main loan bank, Credit Suisse, still Tsinghua Unisplendour's consultant. Credit Suisse declined to comment.

In 2015, Tsinghua Unisplendour bought US$23 billion for Micron Technology, but was rejected by the US government for security reasons. The intention of Tsinghua Unisplendour to acquire 2.6 billion US dollars in three Taiwan chip companies in 2016 and 2017 was also blocked. This year China is in Europe. It took $45.5 billion to acquire assets, more than doubling year-on-year, while investment in the US fell by 75% to $1.9 billion.

Headquartered near Paris, Linxens has annual revenues of 535 million euros, 3,500 employees, 9 production sites worldwide, and branches in China, Singapore and Thailand. The company is a component-based security and authentication market. Solution provider, design and manufacture of miniature connectors, RFID antennas and inlays.

In addition to producing connectors that are critical for smart card and e-reader communications, Linxens also leverages its technical expertise to provide LED lighting solutions. Linxens products are used by many smart card manufacturers, chip manufacturers and module manufacturers.