ADI to buy LTC for $14.8bn

Analog Devices (ADI) is to buy Linear Technology for about $14.8 billion.

“Growth has been hard to come by in the industry over the past several years,” said ADI CEO Vincent Roche, ‘those who have the balance sheets are using them.”

58 million new ADI shares will be created and $7.3 billion borrowed to pay for the deal. The price offered is 24% above the pre-offer share price

“Our shared focus on engineering excellence and our highly complementary portfolios of industry-leading products will enable us to solve our customers’ biggest and most complex challenges at the intersection of the physical and digital worlds,” added Roche, “we are creating an unparalleled innovation and support partner for our industrial, automotive, and communications infrastructure customers, and I am very excited about what this acquisition means for our customers, our employees, and our industry.”

Roche will be CEO of the combined group which should have revenues of around $5 billion based on the current revenues of the two companies which will make it the No.2 player in analogue behind TI which has revenue of $13 billion.

“This combination of Linear Technology and Analog Devices has the potential to create a combination where one plus one truly exceeds two,” is the cryptic comment of LTC co-founder and executive chairman Bob Swanson.