In a press release on Thursday (July 17th), ON Semiconductor Corporation (”OSC”) officially announced its intent to acquire Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc. in an all-stock transaction with an equity value of around $115 million. Investors are to receive exactly 0.706 shares of OSC common stock for each of their existing shares of Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc.

The merger is expected to strengthen both companies, as iterated by OSC’s CEO, Keith Jackson in this statement: “Catalyst Semiconductor’s analog and mixed-signal business represented more than $11 million in sales as of their April 2008 fiscal year end – a business that grew more than 90 percent versus the prior year. Catalyst Semiconductor’s EEPROM technology will strengthen our custom application-specific circuits (ASIC) and power products capabilities expanding our ability to more comprehensively address our customers’ needs. With the combination of ON Semiconductor’s global footprint, effective channels of distribution, and top-tier customer relationships, we expect to be able to support a broader and deeper penetration of Catalyst’s overall product portfolio.”

He continued, “This should enable us to accelerate their revenue growth and increase market share. We also believe additional revenue from Catalyst Semiconductor’s strong portfolio offering will benefit from ON Semiconductor’s manufacturing capabilities. We look forward to welcoming Gelu Voicu, Catalyst Semiconductor’s CEO, as well as the talented Catalyst employee base to ON Semiconductor.”

While the agreement is subject to shareholder approval, the companies do expect the transaction to close by the fourth quarter. Catalyst CEO Gelu Voicu assured his employees, as well as investors, that the move is prudent from all angles. A public conference call will be held at 8:00 a.m. ET on August 6th to fully discuss the issue. Interested domestic parties can dial in at (888) 546-9664; (706) 679-4331 for international callers. A conference ID number (56464044) will be required at sign-in.

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