MILPITAS, CA, September 30, 2008 –--Intersil Corporation, a world leader in the design and manufacture of high-performance analog solutions, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Kenet, Incorporated, a privately-held, fabless semiconductor company with leading technology in the design and manufacture of high speed, extremely low power data converters.
Kenet’s innovative FemtoCharge® CMOS technology yields high performance and ultra-low power analog-to-digital converters in an extremely small die area. The size and power advantages of Kenet’s data converters enable increased functionality in a variety of industrial and communications products such as portable digital oscilloscopes and software defined radios.
“Intersil remains committed to key strategic acquisitions to broaden our product portfolio,” said Dave Bell, Intersil’s Chief Executive Officer. “Kenet has developed the world’s highest performance analog-to-digital converters with power consumption at a fraction of those currently on the market. This gives Intersil important technology leadership and access to many previously un-served markets.”
“We are very pleased to be a part of the Intersil family,” said Phill LoPresti, Kenet’s Chief Executive Officer. “Having access to Intersil’s global resources will accelerate our entrance into the data converter market and provides an innovative technology platform for many new products.”
The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved the merger. The acquisition adds an additional two million dollars of operating expenses per quarter, and is expected to become accretive in 2010. Intersil may record a one-time charge to operating income for purchased in-process research and development expenses when the closing occurs. The amount of that charge, if any, has not yet been determined. Closing of the merger is expected to be completed within days. Signal Hill acted as advisors for Kenet on the transaction.
About Intersil
Intersil Corporation is a leader in the design and manufacture of high-performance analog semiconductors. The Company's products address some of the industry's fastest growing markets, such as, flat panel displays, cell phones, other handheld systems, and notebooks. Intersil’s product families address power management functions and analog signal processing functions. Intersil products include ICs for battery management, hot-swap and hot-plug controllers, linear regulators, power sequencers, supervisory ICs, bridge drivers, PWM controllers, switching DC/DC regulators and power MOSFET drivers; optical storage laser diode drivers; DSL line drivers; video and high-performance operational amplifiers; data converters; interface ICs; analog switches and multiplexers; crosspoint switches; voice-over-IP devices; and ICs for military, space and radiation-hardened applications. For more information about Intersil or to find out how to become a member of our winning team, visit the Company's web site and career page at www.intersil.com.