OmniVision to be bought by Chinese investors in $1.9 billion deal
(Reuters) - OmniVision Technologies Inc, a maker of chips for smartphone and tablet cameras, agreed to be taken private by a group of Chinese investors for about $1.9 billion (£1.23 billion) in cash.
Chinese private equity firms Hua Capital Management Co Ltd, CITIC Capital Holdings Ltd and GoldStone Investment Co Ltd will pay $29.75 per share for the company, a premium of 12 percent to the stock's Wednesday close on the Nasdaq.
The company's shares were trading at $28.15 premarket. They have risen about 36 percent in the past year.
Chinese state-owned investment firms bought several U.S.-listed chipmakers in the last two years, including Montage Technology Group, Spreadtrum Communications Inc and RDA Microelectronics Inc.
OmniVision, whose customers include Apple Inc, competes with companies such as Sony Corp, Samsung Electronics Co and Himax Technologies Inc.
The company has a design centre and a testing facility in China and generates nearly 80 percent of its revenue from the country.
OmniVision Chief Executive Shaw Hong is expected to remain with the company after the closing of the deal, expected in the third or fourth quarter of fiscal year 2016.
Reuters had reported in August that OmniVision received a buyout proposal from a group of Chinese investors.
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is financial adviser to OmniVision, while Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is the legal adviser.
Grandall Law Firm is serving as PRC legal counsel to OmniVision. BofA Merrill Lynch the financial adviser to the Chinese consortium.
OmniVision's shares rose 7 percent in extended trading on Wednesday, after Bloomberg reported that the company was close to a deal with a group of Chinese investors.
(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee and Devika Krishna Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
