ON, Microchip, Jointly Offer $5 Per Share to Buy Atmel; Shares of Both Suitors Tumble; Atmel Set to Soar

Microchip (MCHP) and ON Semiconductor (ONNN) made a joint unsolicited bid to acquire Atmel (ATML) today for $5 a share in cash. The deal values Atmel at $2.3 billion.

In a letter to Atmel yesterday–which was released today by Microchip and ON Semi–the two companies say they were “deeply disappointed” that Atmel’s board “appears unwilling to consider a transaction at this time under any circumstances.”

The letter notes that the acquisition would be led by Microchip, and financed in part by the sale of Atmel’s nonvolatile memory, RF and automotive businesses to ON Semi. The rest of the financing would come from Microchips cash position.

Read the rest of this post