PE-Backed NXP Semiconductors in Talks with Intel, Qualcomm

Dutch chip maker NXP Semiconductors is in takeover talks with Intel, Qualcomm and Broadcom, Reuters reported, citing an article by Dutch paper De Telegraaf. NXP was bought out by private equity investors, including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Bain Capital, Silver Lake, Apax Partners and AlpInvest in 2006. The firm was partly listed by its private equity owners in August 2010.

(Reuters) – Dutch chip maker NXP Semiconductors is in takeover talks with Intel, Qualcomm and Broadcom , a Dutch newspaper reported on Friday, citing a banker.

“The signals about an approach are now serious and are too strong to ignore,” the banker, who was not identified by name or company, was cited as saying by Dutch paper De Telegraaf.

NXP Semiconductors, which was partly listed by its private equity owners last August, declined to comment.

It specialises in making chips used for payments with mobile phones, making it an attractive target, the paper said.

NXP’s chief executive told Reuters in November he ruled out any consolidation in the semiconductor industry in the mid term because major players are focused on organic growth as they emerge from the global recession.

In 2008, NXP and German rival Infineon, which has sold its wireless operations to Intel, were rumoured to be in merger talks that never came to anything.

(Reporting by Gilbert Kreijger; Editing by Sara Webb and Erica Billingham)