Parthus Technologies, the Dublin-based chip design company formerly Silicon Systems Ltd (SSL), has announced details of the price range for its forthcoming initial public offering and listing on the US Nasdaq and London stock exchanges around the last week in May.
The estimated price range per share of the 130 million ordinary shares on offer will be 70p to 85p sterling (€1.23 to €1.49) or $10.91 to $13.25 (€12.24 to €14.86) per American Depositary Share (ADS), with each ADS representing 10 ordinary shares.
Parthus expects to raise around $170 million from the placing of 20 to 25 per cent of the company's stock, valuing the firm at almost $700 million.
Of the shares being offered, 111,309,328 will be sold by the company and 18,690,672 by selling shareholders.
Underwriters to the deal have been confirmed, with Goldman Sachs International acting as global co-ordinator, bookrunner and sponsor to the offering. A syndicate of banks comprising Chase Hambrecht and Quist, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and Lehman Brothers will act as co-lead managers on the fund-raising.
Parthus has also announced that ARM Holdings in Britain will now take a $2 million equity stake in Parthus, valued at less than 1 per cent of the company's stock.
The investment will take place in advance of the public offering, and, under the new arrangement, Parthus can now licence ARM's core technology to its clients.
ARM is viewed as the Intel of mobile phones and Parthus is primarily engaged in semiconductor intellectual property targeting mobile e-commerce.
