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INSIDE Contactless acquires Atmel's SMS business for USD32m cash(EquityBites Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) INSIDE Contactless, a provider of contactless secure transaction chip technologies, completed the acquisition of Atmel Corporation’s (Nasdaq:ATML) Secure Microcontroller Solutions (SMS) business, it disclosed on Thursday. INSIDE paid about USD32m cash after an adjustment based on the working capital of the transferred business at the closing on 30 September 2010 as per the agreement, subject to a further cash consideration of up to USD21m if SMS meets some earn-out targets in 2010 and 2011, it added. Under the agreement, INSIDE gains a royalty based, intellectual property license agreement to support present and future SMS products, 160 Atmel employees and signed another long term supply agreement to continue sourcing wafers from Atmel’s recently sold fabrication facility in Rousset, France to LFoundry GmbH. Atmel’s SMS business has a portfolio of contact and contactless integrated circuits for smart cards and security applications, such as secure microcontrollers, embedded security chips and smart card reader ICs, with operations in Rousset, France and East Kilbride, UK. INSIDE also raised capital of about USD65m from a series D preferred shares offering led by current shareholders Gimv NV and Sofinnova Partners to finance the acquisition and later development of the newly formed group. Other existing investors participating were Vertex Israel, Euro US Ventures, GGV Capital, Qualcomm Inc, Nokia Growth Partners, Samsung Ventures and Visa International and new investorsFonds Stratégique d’Investissement, the French sovereign wealth fund for EUR7.5m and Atmel for EUR3m. (USD1=EUR0.73) ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected])) (c) 2010 M2 COMMUNICATIONS |