Atlantic Bridge Ventures exits GloNav investment
European venture firm Atlantic Bridge Ventures will have some extra money for Christmas shopping as it notched its second exit of the year, selling portfolio company GloNav Inc. to chipmaker NXP Semiconductors for $110 million.
The transaction will involve an initial cash payment of $85 million, with a further $25 million based on the achievement of targets.
The London-based VC had invested $16.2 million in GloNav, a Newport Beach, Calif., maker of semiconductors for GPS systems, created in 2006 from the spinning out of Ceva Inc.'s GPS business and a merger with RFDomus Inc. Atlantic Bridge likely made a tidy profit on its investment as Ceva said that it will receive $17 million for its stake in the company, leaving roughly $68 million for management and the venture firm.
For its part, the deal marks the end of a busy year for the acquisitive NXP. After being spun out of Royal Philips Electronics NV in 2006, the semiconductor company has been wheeling and dealing. It started the year with the purchase of Silicon Laboratories Inc.'s cell-phone transceiver chip business for up to $350 million in February. Then in July, NXP acquired the Blue Streak microcontroller product portfolio from Sharp Microelectronics for an undisclosed amount. The low-power microcontrollers have a wide range of applications using LCD panels — from handheld video players to portable medical diagnostic devices. — George White
See the press release
See Deal.com story on NXP buying Blue Streak
