January 14, 2015: Infineon Technologies AG has announced the acquisition of International Rectifier. With effect from today, the El Segundo based company has become part of Infineon following the approval of all necessary regulatory authorities and International Rectifier’s shareholders.
“The acquisition of International Rectifier is an important step for Infineon to foster our position as a global market leader in power semiconductors. We are sure that International Rectifier and its employees will make a great contribution to a joint successful future. Together both companies make a powerful combination”, says Dr Reinhard Ploss, CEO of Infineon. “We offer our customers an unparalleled product portfolio. Our profound understanding of their needs enables us to provide the best possible and competitive solutions. The acquisition helps us to accelerate our strategic approach ‘from product thinking to system understanding’.”
The combined company is led by Reinhard Ploss, CEO, Arunjai Mittal, member of the management board regions, sales, marketing, strategy development and M&A, and Dominik Asam, CFO. President of International Rectifier and of Infineon North America is Robert LeFort.
International Rectifier is highly complementary to Infineon: the combined company gains greater scope in product portfolio and regions, especially with small and medium enterprise customers in the US and Asia. The merger taps additional system know-how in power management. It expands the expertise in power semiconductors, also combining leading knowledge in compound semiconductors, namely Gallium Nitride. Furthermore, the acquisition will drive greater economies of scale in production, strengthening the competitiveness of the combined company.
Financial targets of the merger confirmed
The acquisition is expected to be accretive to pro-forma earnings per share (EPS) already in the current fiscal year. Synergies are expected to further drive significant accretion, building on International Rectifier’s existing successful operational restructuring.
At the latest within fiscal year 2017, International Rectifier’s margin contribution is expected to be at least in line with Infineon’s target of 15 per cent segment result margin over the cycle.
It was in August 2014, Infineon had announced that it was to acquire International Rectifier in a deal worth approximately USD 3 billion. The Board of Directors of International Rectifier and Infineon’s Supervisory Board unanimously supported the offer of Infineon to pay USD 40 per outstanding share. Subsequently, all regulatory authorities had approved the acquisition – as did the shareholders of International Rectifier with a majority of 99.5 per cent of all votes cast.
