COMPASS has been bought by Avanti
J. Mejia
Thursday July 31 8:00 PM EDT
Company Press Release
Source: Avant! Corporation
Avant! to Acquire COMPASS Design Automation
COMPASS Customers Get Access to Avant!'s Industry-Leading Tools
FREMONT, Calif., July 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Avant! Corporation (Nasdaq:AVNT -
news) today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire
COMPASS Design Automation, a subsidiary of VLSI Technology, Inc.
(Nasdaq:VLSI). Paul McLellan, president of COMPASS will become one of the
R&D heads of Avant! Corporation.
The agreement provides that Avant! will issue cash and common stock
totaling approximately $44 million in exchange for all outstanding COMPASS
equity. The proposed transaction will be accounted for as a purchase and is
expected to close in the third quarter of 1997. The acquisition is expected
to be non-dilutive to Avant! stockholders. The closing of the transaction
is subject to regulatory and other customary closing conditions.
``COMPASS' loyal customers will now have access to Avant!'s world-class
ICDA tools. COMPASS always had a solid technology but their customers
wanted to have a white knight to bring out the true value of their
investment. COMPASS' place and route customers will have a very attractive
migration path to use Avant!'s technologies,'' stated Gerald C. Hsu,
chairman, president, and CEO of Avant! Corporation. ``COMPASS has
accumulated a significant expertise in the area of silicon calibration and
foundry relationships through their Passport(TM) library business. This
expertise is going to be a crucial factor in the delivery of silicon
intellectual property (SIP) for the emerging system-on-chip market which is
a mission of Avant!'s newly-formed subsidiary, Galax! (pronounced
Ga-LOX-ee), Inc.(TM),'' continued Hsu. ``We will also be strengthening
Avant!'s integrated product solution and flow for IC design environment
with COMPASS' existing R&D knowledge base while streamlining their
operations.''
``The combined offerings of COMPASS' library business and Avant!'s
world-class ICDA tools will be important in becoming an industry standard
in SIP portability,'' said Paul McLellan, president of COMPASS Design
Automation. ``We see a strong synergy between COMPASS' R&D efforts and
Avant!'s core business in the area of simulation, analysis, physical design
and verification, RTL-level floor planning and the new area of formal
verification which is fast becoming a must in complex IC design flows.''
``I am glad to see that COMPASS Design Automation has found a home with the
fastest-growing EDA company, Avant!,'' said Gary Smith, Principal EDA
Analyst for Dataquest, Inc. ``COMPASS always had focused in many areas of
EDA space, but they had diluted their efforts to serve a broader market.
With this merger, customers are going to see significant benefits in
getting a complete ICDA solution.''
About COMPASS Design Automation
COMPASS Design Automation, a subsidiary of VLSI Technology, Inc., is a
leading provider of EDA tools and libraries for the design of
deep-submicron ASICs and ASSPs. The company supplies products in four focus
areas including formal verification, floorplanning, place and route and
physical libraries. COMPASS is headquartered in San Jose, California, and
develops, markets and sells its products worldwide. Telephone:
408-433-4880. Worldwide Web: http://www.COMPASS-da.com
About Avant!
Avant! (pronounced ah VANH tee) Corporation develops, markets, and supports
integrated circuit design automation (ICDA) software for the simulation,
layout, verification, and analysis of deep submicron ICs including
microprocessors, microcontrollers, application-specific standard products
(ASSPs) and complex application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). The
company has its new headquarters in Fremont, California. Telephone:
510-413-8000. Fax: 510-413-8080. Worldwide Web: http://www.avanticorp.com.
NOTE: Galax!, Inc. is a trademark of Avant! Corporation. All other company
and product names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks
of their respective owners and should be treated as such.
Except for any historical information presented herein, matters presented
in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and
uncertainties. The Company's future results could differ materially from
the results presented herein. Factors that could cause or contribute to
such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed from time
to time in the Company's public reports filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including those discussed in the Company's report on
Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1996, and including the risks
discussed in the ``Risk Factors'' section included in the Company's
Registration Statement on Form S-3 as declared effective by the Securities
and Exchange Commission on January 31, 1997.
SOURCE: Avant! Corporation
Jim Mrowca
Looks like VLSI Technology dediced to divest out of the CAD angles
and leave it to Gerry ("like me take a swing at Joe Costello") Hsu...
I move someone ought to change the newsgroup comp.cad.compass
to comp.cad.avant once the deal will "inevitably" go thru (of course
Joe C. may object ...)
Anybody know how long this may take for the lawyers to sort out
(without tany potential Joe C. intervention?)
[Hey John Cooley...what ya think?]
regards, Jim
<opinions my own, not necessarily mirroring my employer>
J. Mejia wrote:
>
> Company Press Release Source: Avant! Corporation
> Avant! to Acquire COMPASS Design Automation
> COMPASS Customers Get Access to Avant!'s Industry-Leading Tools
....
>
> COMPASS Design Automation, ..... is aleading provider of EDA tools and
> libraries for the design of deep-submicron ASICs and ASSPs... supplies
> products in 4 focus areas:.. formal verification, floorplanning, place
> & route and physical libraries. ...headquartered in San Jose, CA, and
> develops, markets and sells its products worldwide. Tel:
> 408-433-4880. Worldwide Web: http://www.COMPASS-da.com
...
> Avant!... Corporation develops, markets, and supports integrated circuit
> design automation (ICDA) software for the simulation, layout, verification,
> and analysis of deep submicron ICs including microprocessors,
> microcontrollers, application-specific standard products (ASSPs) and
> complex application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs)...co. new
> headquarters in Fremont, CA. Tel: 510-413-8000. http://www.avanticorp.com.
....
> Except for any historical information presented herein, matters presented
> in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and
> uncertainties. ....ffective by the Securities