CSR, SiRF combine forces for Bluetooth, GPS

CAMBRIDGE, UK: CSR and SiRF entered into a conditional agreement under which SiRF will merge with CSR, increasing the scale of CSR in the high-growth GPS technology market and strengthening CSR's position as a global leader in both Bluetooth and GPS.

SiRF is a market leader in GPS semiconductors with strong hardware, software and systems. SiRF's significant GPS and assisted GPS (A-GPS) patent portfolio complements CSR's extensive patent portfolio in eGPS. The combined strengths of SiRF and CSR will drive forward the innovation of new chips incorporating GPS and position the enlarged CSR group to be able to take a substantial share of the fast growing GPS market in mobile devices. CSR estimates the GPS attach rate to be around 20% of mobile handsets in 2008 and this is expected to double by 2012.

Bluetooth and GPS are two core segments of CSR's Connectivity Centre and this transaction accelerates CSR's strategy by adding a GPS solution that already has considerable traction with leading tier one customers. The two companies' complementary customer relationships also enable cross-selling of GPS and Bluetooth.

CSR’s Connectivity Centre strategy exploits the high attach rates of its Bluetooth technology, integrating additional value-added technologies into its subsystem. CSR’s pioneering technique and Smart Integration approach allows different technologies to share resources and improve coexistence between radios, giving excellent end user experience. SiRF’s GPS technologies will enable CSR to accelerate its strategic goals for the Connectivity Centre.

Following completion of the transaction,
* SiRF shareholders will receive 0.741 of an ordinary share in CSR for each SiRF share.
* SiRF shareholders will own 27 percent of the enlarged CSR group.
* The boards of both CSR and SiRF unanimously endorse the transaction.

SiRF's Diosdado P. Banatao and Kanwar Chadha will be invited to join the CSR Board as Non-Executive Director and Executive Director, respectively. The merger is expected to complete late in the second quarter of 2009

CSR CEO Joep van Beurden commented: “Financially, strategically and commercially, this is a compelling transaction. We expect it to be significantly earnings accretive, to enhance the enlarged group’s financial strength and cash position and to create new and wider revenue opportunities that neither party on its own could pursue as effectively. Strategically, this deal considerably strengthens our leadership position in the Connectivity Centre, a strategy which we believe encapsulates the way our marketplace is developing. Commercially, there is a powerful, complementary fit between the technologies, skill sets and customer relationships of both companies and the way we both see our customers’ needs evolving. Together we create a group substantially better placed both to meet the challenges of today and to emerge even stronger from the current challenging market conditions. This transaction is an exciting opportunity for shareholders, employees and customers.”