Through TheFLY's Eyes: Freescale Semiconductor

from Theflyonthewall.com






Who’s Next?

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Apax Partners, Bain Capital, and Silver Lake backed out of the Freescale (FSL) bidding process yesterday, leaving the Blackstone Group as the apparent winner.

Freescale follows Phillips' semiconductor business which was purchased by private equity. What's next? Last week we blogged about potential candidates. With Silver Lake and fellow partners having cash to attempt to purchase Freescale for $17 billion, what else is available in the semi space? National Semi (NSM) has about an $8.5 billion market cap. and Analog Devices (ADI) has a market cap. of $11 billion.

You could argue that both of these companies have better products than Freescale. If private equity was willing to purchase Freescale, they should be more than willing to purchase National Semi or Analog Devices.