SiliconBeat

Synopsys, the Mountain View maker of semiconductor design software, said today it will buy Synplicity of Sunnyvale for $8 a shares, or about $227 million, or $188 million subtracting the cash Synopsys will acquire with the company. The price represented a 50 percent premium to where Synplicity shares closed Thursday before the deal was announced.

Synplicity specializes in tools to help design semiconductors tailored to perform specific function. It made $13.1 million in net profit last year on sales of $71.1 million. Synopsys, netted $130.5 million last year on $1.2 billion of sales. Synplicity’s chief executive, Gary Meyers, will will join Synopsys as a general manager. Its co-founder and chief technical officer, Ken McElvain, will also join Synopsys.

The purchase is the latest in a string of more than two dozen companies Synopsys has bought over the last decade, including former local public companies Avant!,  HPL Technologies, and Nassda.