Qualcomm, SSW Partners to buy Veoneer in $4.5 billion deal

October 4, 2021

By Helena Soderpalm

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Chipmaker Qualcomm Inc and SSW Partners have reached a definite agreement to buy automotive technology group Veoneer for $4.5 billion, the Swedish company said on Monday.

Veoneer’s expertise in making advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) had made it an attractive takeover target for both Qualcomm and Canada’s Magna.

Qualcomm in August offered to buy Veoneer at an 18.4% premium to a July bid worth around $3.8 billion by Magna that had already been accepted by Veoneer’s board.

Veoneer said in a statement that Qualcomm and SWW Partners, a New York-based investment partnership, would buy it for $37 per share in cash.

Qualcomm this year signed a collaboration deal with Veoneer to develop a software and chip platform for driver-assistance systems called Arriver.

Veoneer said SSW Partners would buy all outstanding shares of Veoneer and sell the Arriver business to Qualcomm while retaining Veoneer’s Tier-1 supplier businesses.

“This transaction structure facilitates the long-term success of all Veoneer’s businesses,” it said in a statement.

Magna had a similar interest in buying Veoneer, as it tries to compete with ADAS makers such as Aptiv, Bosch and Continental.

Veoneer said it had terminated its prior acquisition agreement with Magna. In a separate statement, Magna said Veoneer will pay a termination fee of $110 million to Magna.

Stockholm-listed shares in Veoneer, which was spun off in 2018 from air bag and seatbelt maker Autoliv, rose 4.5% to trade at 314 crowns at 1407 GMT.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom and Helena Soderpalm; editing by Niklas Pollard and Ed Osmond)

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