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To: Valueman who wrote (23474)2/26/1999 11:14:00 AM
From: brian h  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 152472
 
All,

Phillips Bids For VSLI Technology
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch Electronics group Philips said Friday it had offered to buy all the outstanding stock of semiconductor firm VLSI Technology Inc. (Nasdaq:VLSI - news) in a cash deal that could be worth about $776.9 million.

Philips said it had offered to pay $17 per share for some 45.7 million VLSI shares outstanding -- a premium of around 60 percent on the stock's Thursday closing price.

''We feel that the $17 is a fair price for the (VSLI) shareholders,'' Philips spokesman Jeremy Cohen said, adding ''If you look at the reasons why we want to buy it, then it is a fair price.''

Philips said in a statement early Friday its bid was consistent with its strategy of looking for acquisitions to bolster its U.S. presence, adding it planned to make VSLI the ''cornerstone'' of its growth strategy for Philips Semiconductors.

VSLI, based in San Jose, California, posted turnover from continuing operations of around $550 million in 1998 while Philips Semiconductors had full-year sales of 7.1 billion guilders ($3.56 billion).

Cohen confirmed the acquisition, if accepted, would be financed from existing resources. He declined to comment on VLSI's likely response to the proposal or the atmosphere of preliminary talks.

''We cannot really comment any further... the ball is in VLSI's court,'' he said.

Analysts were upbeat on the potential acquisition, labeling it an excellent fit for Philips if it went ahead.

''I think it's a perfect takeover and it's not even that expensive,'' said Rene Verhoef of Generale Bank's Oyens & Van Eeghen.

''I've had a look at the (VSLI) balance sheet and the goodwill isn't actually that steep. Furthermore they've got a good portfolio of products and excellent growth potential.''

The news, which came out of the U.S. overnight, met a lukewarm response on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, however.

Philips shares traded flat over the session, standing down 0.39 percent at 63.50 euros by 1430 GMT.

Brian H.



To: Valueman who wrote (23474)2/26/1999 12:33:00 PM
From: bananawind  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 152472
 
Valueman,

Thanks for reporting on the analyst's meeting. At the shareholder meeting Irwin was very enthusiastic about the results that came out of the TABD group in Washington last week. The news accounts have been posted here, but not much discussion. I was wondering if he was similarly animated on this subject at the analyst's meeting.

He stressed that the proposal that was adopted was put forth originally by Deutch Telecom. As I understand it the proposal includes three modes of 3G service, and each mode will be backward compatible to BOTH the ANSI-41 and GSM-MAP networks. The first mode is called direct sequence and is essentially a single carrier [1.25 Megahertz ?] just like IS-95C. Irwin called this 1X cdma2000 if my notes are right. The second mode is called multicarrier, which he referred to as 3X cdma2000, which I took to mean it is 3 1.25 Mhz carriers combined. And the last mode is called TDD, which he did not talk about except to say it is for short range communications.
This framework was agreed to by basically the entire North American and European operator community, and represents the first time that there has been broad agreement on backward compatibility to BOTH core networks.

He said that within this framework they could now work to flesh out the technical details, which I assume means things like the chip rate that have been in dispute. [He did not mention the need to also get the Japanese and Koreans on board with the proposal]. He said that getting agreement on the details might involve compromises that Q would consider non-optimal, but basically with backward compatibility and a unified (although available in 3 modes) cdma air interface standard, Q would be achieving its objectives and the marketplace could then decide which mode was right for the services and available spectrum of each individual carrier. He didn't come out and say it, but what I inferred was Q would be happy to license its IPR to all comers under a standard that fit within this framework.

Can someone please correct me if I have misunderstood or misrepresented the TABD proposal.[it would not be the first time]

A few other random notes:

They will add handset capacity in Mexico later this year.

Have shipped 38 out of 60 globalstar gateways

Late in '99 will ship 10 to 15 thousand globalstar handsets

Will start installing WLL infrastructure in Brazil soon

Working toward a chip that will be optimized to work with various operating systems (such as Win CE)

The thin phones look great and will sell like hotcakes (my opinion)

R. Supulzio a very impressive, hands on, get it done kind of executive (my opinion)

Lastly, glad to hear Gregg is alive and well. Not much chance he will have to eat his monitor [or was it the cable he was going to dine on). My speculation is that ericy and Q! settle prior to the ITU meeting in Brazil and that it includes a royalty bearing cross-license agreement (with most of the flow going Q's way), agreement on technical 3G details like chip rate, and a joint venture/OEM relationship to manufacture 3G infrastructure and possibly handsets.

Best regards,
Jim



To: Valueman who wrote (23474)2/26/1999 11:54:00 PM
From: JMD  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 152472
 
Valueman, every 10,000 posts or so, I get serious. It was obvious that Gregg "needed" to stay away from the thread given that there's some really heavy shit going down [advanced financial talk, Maurice]. Now, let's ask: does this make any freaking sense at all? Given the exigencies of the times, couldn't Gregg--or any other institutional investor--just start off his posts with some "look folks, I own a shit load of shares (or I'm short a shit load of shares)" disclaimer and then go on to say what he thinks? I know it's awfully simple, but aside from that, what's the the problem with this approach?
There aren't a boatload of dim bulbs on this thread, present company excepted, and if somebody wanted to fire back with a contrary view, why the hell not?
Jerry Falwell just sent an emergency warning to his followers that Tinky Winky of TeleTubby fame was gay based on the indisputable facts that a) TW wears purple, a known color of gays, b) he carries a handbag, and, c) the antenna on his head is in the shape of a triangle, known to be a symbol of the gay movement. I just received a response from a friend of mine which was a point by point rebuttal, beginning with: " The reasons why Tinky Winky just can't be gay: The purse didn't match the shoes. Purple and Red, I mean really, clash-o-RAMA! Besides, it's a Magic Bag, not a Coach Clutch." Points 2-7, were even more hilarious, but not appropriate for a family thread.
Now, y'all choose your church, and pick your pews, but isn't the right to say what you want to say what this whole damned country is all about? I get freaked that I can't listen to Gregg, cause he's in some god damned "silent period" and you know I know that Gregg has no choice cause he'd get his butt sued from here to Helsinki if he did otherwise.
Sorry--will return to bad jokes w/next post. Mike Doyle