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To: Dealer who wrote (28775)	8/14/2000 9:30:38 AM
From: Dealer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 35685

BCRM--Monday August 14 8:55 AM ET Broadcom, NewPort in $1.24 Billion Deal NEW YORK (Reuters) - Communications chip maker Broadcom Corp. on Monday said it would buy optical communications chip maker NewPort Communications Inc. in a stock deal valued at $1.24 billion, extending Broadcom's reach in the fast-growing fiber optic communications market. Irvine, Calif.-based Broadcom (NasdaqNM:BRCM - news) said it would issue about 5.5 million Class A common shares in exchange for all of privately held NewPort's preferred and common stock, employee stock options, warrants and other rights. NewPort is also based in Irvine. Broadcom shares closed Friday at 225-1/16 on Nasdaq. In pre-market activity Monday morning, the stock was up 2-3/16 at 227-1/4. The deal, expected to close within 60 days, is the 13th acquisition Broadcom has made since June 1999. The company is striving to become a one-stop supplier of chips and equipment to link computers, phones and televisions over high-speed networks. The deal comes just a week after Broadcom said it would buy Silicon Spice Inc., a developer of semiconductor technology, for about $1.2 billion. A week earlier it had unveiled plans to buy Altima Communications Inc., a maker of networking circuits, for about $533 million. ''The acquisition of NewPort Communications ... is not only synergistic with our 10-gigabit ethernet technology but is also complementary to the communications processor technology that we are acquiring through our merger with Silicon Spice Inc.,'' Broadcom President and Chief Executive Officer Henry Nicholas said in a statement. ``Together these acquisitions will provide Broadcom with a powerful platform to address the rapidly growing wide area networking marketplace.'' NewPort's current investors include Cisco Systems Inc. (NasdaqNM:CSCO - news), the world's largest producer of networking gear, and Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:LU - news), the world's No. 1 telecommunications equipment maker, Broadcom said. They are also among its largest customers. In connection with the deal, Broadcom said it will record a charge in the third quarter for acquired in-process research and development.