Cypress Semiconductor shoved some more chips into the pot Thursday in a duel with a Chinese investor group for Silicon Valley chip maker Integrated Silicon Solution Inc.
Its latest offer of $21.25 a share came Thursday, or abut $706 million, just a few days before ISSI’s board expected to approve the Chinese offer of about $698 million
Uphill Investment, a private equity consortium based in China, is bidding $21 a share. ISSI has consistently expressed a preference for the consortium’s offer. A spokesman could not be reached immediately for comment Thursday.
ISSI has been under pressure to sell by Starboard Value, an activist hedge fund that became the company’s major investor last year.
Starboard’s top brass were furious with ISSI’s board when Cypress disclosed in May that it had never been asked to bid on the company. At the time, ISSI’s board had been happy to close a deal at around $640 million. Cypress’ bidding has forced Uphill to raise its offer to $698 million.
ISSI’s board continues to prefer the Uphill bid, offering objections to Cypress which the San Jose chip company continues to bat down.
In its new offer, Cypress even offered to pay a “ticking fee” of 10 cents per quarter if the deal doesn’t close in October, when ISSI expects to close the deal with Uphill.
Photo: ISSI logo
