Bidding war? Qualcomm seeks to buy advanced driver assistance firm Veoneer for $4.55 billion

Qualcomm has sparked a imaginable bidding warfare for a Swedish shaper automotive information technologies by making an unsolicited connection to get Veoneer Inc. for $4.55 billion.

The connection from the San Diego smartphone spot steadfast announced Thursday tops Magna International's buyout terms of $3.8 billion. Magna made its connection successful July taxable to a pending shareholder ballot and regulatory approvals.

Magna, a supplier of mobility exertion to automakers, is 1 of Canada's largest companies. The Ontario-based institution has yet to respond oregon antagonistic Qualcomm's bid.

The determination highlights Qualcomm's efforts to diversify beyond smartphones, wherever immoderate of its customers are moving to plan their ain exertion processors in-house.

Qualcomm already supplies chips to carmakers for connectivity, infotainment and the integer cockpit. It had $253 cardinal successful automotive income past 4th and a $10 cardinal aboriginal bid backlog.

Acquiring Veoneer would boost Qualcomm's efforts to elbow its mode arsenic a spot supplier into the car information and perchance self-driving car markets done Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems, oregon ADAS.

The ADAS marketplace is forecast to turn from $13 cardinal past twelvemonth to $46 cardinal by 2030 arsenic much car makers furniture connected autonomous driving features successful their vehicles, specified arsenic hands-free parking, velocity and steering controls and truthful on. Qualcomm already supplies ADAS technologies done its Snapdragon Ride chips and software.

"Leadership successful ADAS volition necessitate leading-edge thinking, a way grounds of innovation and the capableness to make and present analyzable semiconductor and software solutions—all of which are Qualcomm's halfway strengths," wrote Chief Executive Cristiano Amon successful a missive to Veoneer's board. "We judge that unneurotic we are uniquely positioned to accelerate contention and make prime for the automotive ecosystem."

Veoneer, which spun disconnected from Autoliv successful 2018, reported $1.37 cardinal successful income successful 2020 and a $544 cardinal loss.

The institution has 7,500 employees, including 3,800 engineers. It provides nighttime imaginativeness sensors, radar, cameras, operator monitoring and different information technologies. It besides has a brake electronics business.

Qualcomm is astir funny successful Veoneer's Arriver, a sensor cognition and thrust argumentation bundle platform. Amon said Qualcomm volition research spinning disconnected oregon selling Veoneer's non-Arriver businesses. But Qualcomm's connection is not contingent upon lining up prospective suitors for those operations.

Qualcomm's connection of $37 per stock would beryllium funded done its existing currency war-chest. It represents an 18 percent summation implicit Magna International's $31.25 per stock bid.

On July 22, the time earlier Magna made its proposal, Veoneer's shares closed astatine $19.93 connected the Nasdaq exchange.

Qualcomm doesn't judge regulatory clearance volition beryllium a occupation and noted that Magna's connection could look imaginable hurdles due to the fact that of overlap successful definite merchandise lines.

The quality sent Veoneer's shares soaring 25 percent connected Thursday to $38.93—signaling investors expect a counteroffer.

Qualcomm's banal traded down somewhat astatine $145.87 successful mid-day trading connected the Nasdaq.

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