SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc., a provider of GPS-enabled silicon and premium software location platforms, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Centrality Communications Inc, a developer of navigation processor solutions for mobile navigation devices, for a total consideration of USD 283 million in stock and cash.
Founded in 1999, Centrality has developed a range of system on a chip (SoC) offerings that bring high quality navigation and multimedia experience to consumers in mobile environments. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, Centrality has more than 190 employees and a worldwide presence with its main development center in Shanghai, China and branch offices in Taipei, Seoul and Brussels.
Centrality’s Atlas and Titan family of navigation processors together deliver the new standard in features and value for the navigation infotainment systems (NIS) market. By leveraging Centrality’s suite of reference platforms, leading NIS manufacturers can deliver compelling products and services to market quickly.
With its primary focus on portable navigation-infotainment devices, Centrality has developed a range of platforms centered on enhancing the location, information and entertainment experience of consumers. Based on a proprietary dual-core processor architecture, these SoCs have integrated GPS, DSP, graphics and multimedia accelerators, providing breakthrough performance while achieving lower cost. While the Atlas family focuses on high performance value solutions, the Titan platform is designed for the highest end solutions.
Centrality delivers platforms with full reference design support in order to ensure that customers enjoy the best system performance, shortest time-to- market and enhanced product differentiation. As a leading provider of embedded GPS platforms, Centrality supports multiple operating system environments to address customer needs. With a large number of fully qualified ODM customers, Centrality can help bring better and more innovative products to market faster.
Under the terms of the Agreement, in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of Centrality, including equity awards, SiRF has agreed to pay USD 283 million in a combination of cash and shares of SiRF Common Stock. The boards of directors of both companies have approved the merger. Completion of this transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close next quarter.
