Report: Synaptics Rebuffs China Investors’ $110 a Share Takeover Offer

Touch display maker Synaptics (SYNA) is said to have rebuffed a lucrative buyout offer from a Chinese investment group that would have bumped the vendor’s market value by nearly 75 percent, Bloomberg reported.

A state-backed Chinese investment group offered to pay $110 a share to purchase the San Jose, CA-based Synaptics, which makes touch screens for smartphones, tablets and PCs, the report said. The bid valued the company at some $4 billion, according to Bloomberg’s sources, a significant upturn from its current $2.3 billion valuation.

Synaptics’ interest in selling may be sparked by a higher bid, perhaps in the $125 a share range, the report said, with discussions between the two parties continuing.

Rick Bergman, Synaptics chief executive, told Bloomberg the company doesn’t comment on rumors or speculation.

Synaptics’ technology reaches deep into the mobile technology market, with Apple (AAPL) and Samsung using the company’s displays, the report said.

Exactly who is involved in the Chinese bidding group is unknown, the report said. The offer is yet another move by Chinese companies to ramp up ownership of U.S. technology companies as China attempts to establish technological independence, particularly in semiconductors. According to Bloomberg, while China is the world’s biggest chip market, only 10 percent of its processor needs are fulfilled by Chinese manufacturers.

Earlier this week, Western Digital (WDC) said Unisplendour, a subsidiary of China’s Tsinghua Holdings, has invested some $3.78 billion, or $92.50 a share, to buy 15 percent of the hard drive maker’s newly-issued stock at a 34 percent premium above its Tuesday $68.87 closing price.

Last May, Unisplendour bought 51 percent of Hewlett-Packard’s co-owned H3C Technologies, an entity that included the computer maker’s China-based server, storage and technology services business, in a $2.3 billion deal.

In September, 2014, Intel (INTC) poured $1.5 billion into Tsinghua Unigroup, a subsidiary of the Chinese government-backed Tsinghua Holdings that controls fabless chip maker Spreadtrum and RDA Microelectronics, in a joint development deal to broaden the U.S. chip giant’s mobile devices portfolio and architecture in China and worldwide. Tsinghua Unigroup bought Spreadtrum for about $1.8 billion in December 2013.

Last July, reports surfaced that Tsinghua Unigroup had offered $23 billion offer to buy Boise, Idaho-based Micron Technology, one of the top five semiconductor manufacturers in the world and third in the global DRAM market, in a deal that did not get done.