Paul Singer’s fund says NXP worth more than Qualcomm’s offer
Activist investor Elliott Management said on Monday that NXP Semiconductors is worth $135 per share on an intrinsic standalone basis, more than the $110 Qualcomm has offered to buy the company.
The hedge fund run by billionaire Paul Singer, which has a stake of about 6 percent in NXP, told fellow shareholders in a letter that Qualcomm’s offer, made in October 2016, was acting as a ceiling on NXP’s valuation.
Elliott on Aug. 4 disclosed its stake in NXP and indicated it was pushing for a higher price than Qualcomm’s $38 billion all-cash offer.
Since then, NXP’s shares have been trading above Qualcomm’s offer price. However, the spread has tightened in the past month.
Elliott said in August that NXP’s shares were significantly undervalued and the New York-based fund said on Monday Qualcomm’s offer had taken advantage of NXP’s depressed stock price.
“We believe NXP’s prospects are bright. Approximately half of NXP’s revenue is exposed to exciting growth engines of the semiconductor market – automotive and industrial,” Elliott said in its letter to shareholders.
Elliott said it has retained UBS Investment Bank to perform a financial analysis with respect to NXP and would shortly share the report with other shareholders.
Since it offered to buy NXP, Qualcomm itself has been the target of an acquisition approach from Broadcom, but it rejected the $103 billion offer last month.
Broadcom had indicated it was willing to acquire Qualcomm irrespective of whether it closes the NXP deal.
Shares of NXP were up nearly 1 percent at $116.30 in premarket trading, while Qualcomm’s shares were trading down marginally at $64.02.