News Article
Synopsys’s acquisition of Nassda finally goes through
Electronic design automation giant Synopsys has finally completed the acquisition of its smaller rival Nassda Corporation, after a five month wait while the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) undertook an anti-trust review of the deal.
Electronic design automation giant Synopsys has finally completed the acquisition of its smaller rival Nassda Corporation, after a five month wait while the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) undertook an anti-trust review of the deal.
Synopsys originally entered into an agreement to buy Nassda in December 2004 for around US$192 million in cash but the FTC refused to sanction the deal until it had received additional information from both companies.
The FTC has now given the deal the greenlight, bringing to an end one of the most unusual acquisition processes the industry has seen.
Nassda – which was set up by former Synopsys employees – was taken to court by Synopsys for allegedly stealing trade secrets to create electronic design automation software.
Synopsys won the case. But rather than pursuing Nassda and its founders for damages through the courts, Synopsys agreed to buy Nassda in a deal that would see all litigation between the two firms dropped.
It is thought that under the deal the Nassda employees accused of stealing the trade secrets agreed to pay Synopsys a total of US$61.6 million.
Raul Camposano, Synopsis senior vice president, said that the purchase of Nassda, which sells full-chip circuit verification software for complex nanometer semiconductor production, would strengthen the company’s product range.
"The addition of the Nassda products to our simulation product portfolio fortifies our analogue/mixed-signal offering with complementary products and strong engineering talent.
"Going forward, Synopsys will continue to focus on growing our analogue mixed-signal business and integrating operations to support both the Synopsys NanoSim(R) simulator and the Nassda HSIM(R) product family."
Synopsys originally entered into an agreement to buy Nassda in December 2004 for around US$192 million in cash but the FTC refused to sanction the deal until it had received additional information from both companies.
The FTC has now given the deal the greenlight, bringing to an end one of the most unusual acquisition processes the industry has seen.
Nassda – which was set up by former Synopsys employees – was taken to court by Synopsys for allegedly stealing trade secrets to create electronic design automation software.
Synopsys won the case. But rather than pursuing Nassda and its founders for damages through the courts, Synopsys agreed to buy Nassda in a deal that would see all litigation between the two firms dropped.
It is thought that under the deal the Nassda employees accused of stealing the trade secrets agreed to pay Synopsys a total of US$61.6 million.
Raul Camposano, Synopsis senior vice president, said that the purchase of Nassda, which sells full-chip circuit verification software for complex nanometer semiconductor production, would strengthen the company’s product range.
"The addition of the Nassda products to our simulation product portfolio fortifies our analogue/mixed-signal offering with complementary products and strong engineering talent.
"Going forward, Synopsys will continue to focus on growing our analogue mixed-signal business and integrating operations to support both the Synopsys NanoSim(R) simulator and the Nassda HSIM(R) product family."
