Hurry, Hurry: Brexit triggers SoftBank/ARM, Election triggers Siemens/Mentor

If you were watching Seattle beat New England last night, and not the news, you missed it: The rumor that Munich-based Siemens would buy Wilsonville-based Mentor Graphics.

This morning, of course, it’s no longer a rumor. The players themselves have announced that the deed is done.

Per the Press Release, “Siemens and Mentor Graphics today announced that they have entered into a merger agreement under which Siemens will acquire Mentor for $37.25 per share in cash, which represents an enterprise value of $4.5 billion.”

Wow, talk about just in the nick of time.

After all, for many it was not a coincidence that SoftBank hurried up and purchased ARM amidst the swirling debris of the post-Brexit weeks in Great Britain. Nobody was really watching that kind of news when everybody was too busy wondering how the U.K. would actually go about exiting the EU.

If SoftBank had waited any longer, those in the U.K. who realized the value of ARM might have totally blocked the purchase — or at least raised a helluva ruckus — given that the acquisition resulted in ARM being fully owned by foreigners.

Now in a similar race against the clock, Siemens is hurrying up and purchasing Mentor amidst the swirling debris of these post-election days here in the United States.

And just as was the case last July in London, nobody today in Washington is really watching that kind of news. Everybody is too busy wondering how the U.S. will go about swiveling around on its political and social axis from alt-left to alt-right.

If Seimens were to wait any longer, those in the U.S. who actually realize the value of Mentor Graphics, particularly the company’s importance to the American military and aeronautics industries, might totally block the purchase — or at least raise a helluva ruckus — given that it will result in Mentor being fully owned by foreigners.

And so it goes. Business as usual. Mentor will be purchased, become a German company, and I for one hope to be a few dollars richer. I bought 100 shares of MENT at-market this morning, just in case the acquisition actually goes through. I’ll let you know how that goes.

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The Leadership Speaks …

Joe Kaeser, President and CEO of Siemens AG: “Siemens is acquiring Mentor as part of its Vision 2020 concept to be the Benchmark for the New Industrial Age. It’s a perfect portfolio fit to further expand our digital leadership and set the pace in the industry.”

Klaus Helmrich, member of the Managing Board of Siemens: “With Mentor, we’re acquiring an established technology leader with a talented employee base that will allow us to supplement our world-class industrial software portfolio. It will complement our strong offering in mechanics and software with design, test and simulation of electrical and electronic systems.”

Walden C. Rhines, Chairman and CEO of Mentor, and beloved member of ESD Alliance Board: “Combining Mentor’s technology leadership and deep customer relationships with Siemens’ global scale and resources will better enable us to serve the growing needs of our customers, and unlock additional significant opportunities for our employees.

“Siemens is an ideal partner with financial depth and stability, and their resources and additional investment will allow us to innovate even faster and accelerate our vision of creating top-to-bottom automated design solutions for electronic systems. We are excited to join the Siemens family, as it is clear they share the same values and focus on customer success, and are pleased that this transaction provides immediate and certain value to our stockholders.”

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Tags: ARM, Brexit, ESD Alliance, Joe Kaeser, Klaus Helmrich, Mentor Graphics, Seimens, SoftBank, Wally Rhines

This entry was posted on Monday, November 14th, 2016 at 6:55 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.