Philips announced it has signed a definitive agreement with Intermagnetics under which Philips will acquire Intermagnetics for USD 1.

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3 billion (EUR 1 billion) to be paid in cash upon completion. Intermagnetics develops, manufactures and markets high-field superconducting magnets used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems. Intermagnetics employs approximately 1150 people. Magnetic resonance imaging is one of the key imaging technologies in radiology departments in hospitals. In 2005, total MRI market was approximately EUR 5 billion.

Wavecom, French supplier in pre-packaged wireless communications solutions for automotive, industrial (machine-to-machine) and mobile professional applications, announced its acquisition of NexGen Software, France-based software company specializing in TCP/IP internet software.

NexGen Software brings to Wavecom its internally-developed TCP/IP (internet) suite of protocol stacks and internet software expertise along with a worldwide customer base of over 100.

NexGen Software was founded in 1999 and operated profitably in 2005. The acquisition is a cash transaction of EUR 400,000.

Thales and Diehl signed an agreement on the formation of Junghans Microtec combining their expertise in ammunition electronics and precision mechanics to establish one of the world’s leading fuze suppliers.

The company will specialize in the development, production and marketing of ammunition fuzes and safety devices. Following approval by the anti-trust authorities, the corporate division Diehl VA Systeme and Thales subsidiary TDA will hold 51% and 49% of the company shares respectively.

Junghans Microtec will concentrate its resources at La Ferté Saint Aubin, France, and at its new headquarters in Duningen-Seedorf, Germany, where Diehl is currently investing in the expansion and modernization of its facilities. With initially 350 employees, the new company intends to achieve annual sales of €70 M.

Telit Communications, Italian wireless communications developer and distributor, announced the acquisition of 75% of Bellwave m2m, a South Korean wireless communications developer of machine to machine modules, in a cash transaction totalling US$6.18M. Bellwave's m2m business has generated some $21M revenue in 2005 with dominant market share in South Korea close to 50%.

Bellwave m2m, which developed and marketed the world's smallest CDMA data communications module, has currently 40 employees. The combination of the two entities will create a new force in the m2m market, capable of servicing all CDMA and GSM and in a future also WCDMA markets, on a global basis. Telit ranks as the third largest supplier of wireless M2M modules on the European market behind Siemens and Wavecom.

Motorola has completed its previously announced acquisition of a development center in Denmark, from BenQ. By this acquisition Motorola is doubling its organization in Denmark which becomes one of its R&D and development hubs in the region. As part of the transaction, Motorola is acquiring approximately 250 employees, the majority of whom are engineers. The new Motorola-team in Aalborg will play an important role in Motorola Mobile Devices global R&D organisation.

Indian IT Services group Wipro Technologies has signed an agreement to acquire the Finland based Saraware in an all cash deal for Euro 25 Million. Saraware, a 21 year old company, provides Design and Engineering services to Telecom companies. This acquisition adds expert domain competencies in the areas of radio networks and secure mobile platforms. Saraware has nearly 200 specialists in these domains based out of Finland.

This transaction represents the creation of a new world leader in smart cards and digital security, with 2005 pro forma revenues of approximately EUR 1.7 billion ($ 2.2 billion), operations in 120 countries, large operational centers in the Paris and Marseille areas, and 11,000 employees including 1,500 R&D engineers. After further review, Axalto and Gemplus have reconfirmed their initial estimate of the synergies arising from this transaction, expected to amount to EUR85 million (US$100 million) per year on a fully-phased basis.

Saab is acquiring Ericsson Microwave Systems (EMW) which has approximately 1250 employees in Gothenburg, Sweden. The acquisition adds radar and sensor operations to Saab's product portfolio in defence, aviation, space and civil security. The purchase sum is SEK 3,8 billion. The purchase also includes the Ericsson 40 percent share in Saab Ericsson Space, a subcontractor for equipments to commercial satellites.

Saab and EMW have been working closely together for a long time. EMW currently delivers the radar for the Gripen fighter. The acquisition enables Saab to create scope of action to secure the Gripen's long-term development.

EMW's defence operation has supplied more than 3000 radar systems in over 30 countries. EMW's operations within National Security and Personal Safety as well as Power Systems, with a total of 300 employees, will remain part of Ericsson.
The defence operation within EMW has sales of approximately 2 billion SEK and at the start of 2006 had order backlog of approximately 3.5 billion SEK. Exports make up approximately 65 percent of turnover.

In an other deal, Ericsson offered €30 million to buy the IP-telephony and communication specialist Netwise.

The Swedish EMS provider Note has signed a letter of intent to acquire Nordic-Printdesign, which offers PCB design know-how. Nordic-Printdesign currently has 8 employees at offices in Oslo and Stockholm. This acquisition marks the first step in Note’s initiative to increase its market share in Norway.

Nu Horizons Electronics, a global US distributor of advanced technology active semiconductor, display and system solutions, announced a non-binding letter of intent to acquire DT Electronics, a franchised technical distributor of electronic components based in Coventry, United Kingdom. For its most recent fiscal year ended March 31, 2006, DT Electronics has reported revenues of approximately US$25 million. Established in 1987, DT Electronics' products come from suppliers of semiconductors, power supplies and passive components.

Acculogic announces a further expansion in board test capabilities with a successful bid to purchase Scorpion Technologies in Germany.

Triton, an independent European private equity investor, and the Dematic management have together taken over the shares in the worldwide Dematic business from Siemens. This step concludes the realignment of Dematic - which started in September last year - leaving the company as an autonomous enterprise. The companies involved have agreed not to disclose details of the transaction or of the sale price. Dematic is one of the world's leading suppliers of logistics automation equipment. Dematic employs about 4,000 people and achieved a business volume of more than 800 million euros.

Leoni, a German cable and wiring systems manufacturer, will acquire Studer at a price translating to about 105 million euros. With sales of about 84 million euros in the 2005 financial year and approximately 350 employees, Studer, founded in 1939 is one of the five largest Swiss cable manufacturers.

Philips Electronics confirmed closure of the deal, as announced on 9 January 2006, to transfer Philips' optical pick-up (OPU) business unit to Arima Devices, an affiliated company of Arima Computer, a Taiwanese group. As a result, Philips holds a 12% share in Arima Devices. The Dutch company also announced that it has completed the merger of Philips Mobile Display Systems with Toppoly Optoelectronics of Taiwan to form a mobile display company. The company is named TPO and it's principal shareholders are Compal Electronics (25.1%) and Philips (17.5%).

Wafer manufacturer Sumco announced that it has reached an agreement with Komatsu to acquire a 51% stake in its silicon wafer subsidiary, Komatsu Electronic Metals for ¥36.9 billion (about $320.4 million U.S.). The acquisition will make Sumco similar in size to top wafer supplier Shin-Etsu Handotai.

Sumco had net sales of ¥1.702 trillion ($15.035 billion U.S.) in fiscal year ended Mar. 31, 2006. Komatsu Electronic Metals (KEM) had net sales of ¥86.6 billion ($765 million) over the same period.

Powerwave Technologies and Filtronic announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for Powerwave to acquire the majority of Filtronic's Wireless Infrastructure division business for a combination of 20.7 million newly issued shares of Powerwave common stock and $150 million in cash. The specific product lines included in this transaction comprise transmit/receive filters, integrated remote radio heads and power amplifier products, all for use in commercial wireless infrastructure base station equipment. The proposed acquisition does not include point to point radio backhaul equipment, as well as Filtronic's other divisions, of compound semiconductors and defence electronics. Immediately following the close, Filtronic will have an equity interest in Powerwave of approximately 13%. Filtronic's wireless infrastructure business had a 12-month revenue for the period ending November 30, 2005 of approximately $332.1 million. Powerwave believes that combined revenues for calendar year 2007 will easily exceed $1.4 billion.

A key part of the strategy for Filtronic is to achieve further substantial growth in value for compound semiconductors. This division is seeing strong long term market growth as the mobile handset industry continues to adopt switches based on GaAs pHEMT technology, with the expectation that they will be used in around 80% of handsets produced by 2008, says Filtronic. So, the British company plans to expand the semiconductor facility to increase the size of this business by up to three times in the coming two years, at an estimated cost of £45m over the next twelve months.

Soitec, French supplier of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers, announces the conclusion of an agreement to acquire all the shares of TraciT Technologies, a company based in Grenoble, France. TraciT Technologies specializes in thin-film layer transfer technologies that leverage molecular adhesion and mechanical, as well as chemical, thinning processes for the production of micro-electro mechanical (MEMS) and power circuits. A spin-off from the CEA-Leti, TraciT Technologies was formed in 2003. Following an initial development phase, TraciT Technologies, with its confirmed potential growth, has to quickly move to production to satisfy the needs of its customers in Europe, North America and Asia.

Analog Devices has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Integrant Technologies of Seoul, Korea. An innovator in the field of high-performance analog circuits designed for reconfigurable radio frequency (RF) signal processing, Integrant (78 employees) supplies low-power radio tuners that allow mobile communications, computer, and consumer devices to receive digital television (TV) and digital radio broadcasts. Integrant is best known for the low-power Digital Multimedia Broadcast (DMB) tuners it supplies to Korea's leading mobile phone manufacturers. ADI expects to pay approximately $127 million in cash at the closing in exchange for substantially all of the outstanding shares of Integrant. ADI may pay up to an additional $33 million upon the achievement of certain milestones.

SCM Microsystems has completed the sale of its Digital TV solutions business to Kudelski for total consideration of $11 million. Under the terms of the transaction, SCM has sold to Kudelski substantially all of the assets that relate to its Digital TV solutions business, including its office building in France, certain inventory, contracts, trademarks and intellectual property. In addition, approximately 40 employees in Europe and Asia have joined Kudelski. The Kudelski Group (www.nagra.com) is a world leader in digital security. The Group is headquartered in Cheseaux-sur- Lausanne, Switzerland.

Semcon (sales of SEK 1.5 billion in 2005) will acquire 30 per cent of Devotek. Simultaneously Devotek, a Norwegian design company, will acquire Semcon Norge AS.
“We have worked with Devotek for 3 years and have now chosen to go one step further by acquiring 30 per cent of the company. At the same time we are selling Semcon Norge AS to Devotek. In this way we gain a stronger business on the Norwegian market,” says Semcon’s acting CEO, Lars-Inge Sjöqvist. “Norwegian industry currently has a significant demand for development services. Through joint ownership we gain faster access to a number of different business opportunities.”
The total purchase price is NOK 16 million of which part will be paid to Devotek via a new issue. The planned date for the deal’s conclusion is 2 June. The purchase price of all the shares in Semcon Norge is NOK 7 million.