SiliconBeat

Micrel, the San Jose chip maker who last year successfully fought off a proxy battle with Obrem Capital, its largest independent stockholder, spent $10 million this week to buy back 1.6 million of Obrem’s 10.7 million shares.

The company paid Obrem $6.25 a share at what it called a “moderate discount” to the stock’s 30-day average price. On the day the transaction took place, Micrel’s stock closed at $7.50.

Micrel’s chief executive and largest individual shareholder, Ray Zinn, purchased an additional 200,000 shares of Obrem’s stake, while eight other Micrel executives and directors bought among them 83,000 more of Obrem’s stake, reducing it to 13.5 percent.

Prior to the transactions, Obrem owned 15 percent of Micrel’s outstanding shares, a stake it acquired for an average of about $8 per share. Despite the poor return, Obrem declared itself “pleased with the transaction,” saying it “was able to sell stock to adjust its portfolio make-up in a private transaction with the company that allowed Obrem to achieve its portfolio objectives with minimal market impact.”

Micrel’s shares, which fell an average of 13.4 percent in each of the last three years, are down 7 percent more so far in 2009.