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Agilent Technologies sold its Semiconductor Products Group (SPG) to Avago Technologies on December 1, 2005. Backed by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and Silver Lake Partners, Avago became the successor to the business; it was a sale, not a conventional spin-off that left the chip group as an independently distributed Agilent company.
Was Avago spun out of Agilent?
Not in the usual sense of a corporate spin-off. Agilent’s board approved the divestiture in August 2005 as part of a move to focus the company on measurement. The SPG was sold to Avago, a newly organized Singapore company backed by KKR and Silver Lake Partners. Agilent announced that the sale had closed on December 1, 2005.
Avago Technologies Limited later described its corporate relationship to the business directly: “We are the successor to the Semiconductor Products Group, or SPG, of Agilent Technologies, Inc., or Agilent.” That statement appears in Avago’s 2009 Form 10-K.
How much did Agilent receive?
The reported amounts differ because the companies presented the transaction in different filings and at different levels of precision; they refer to the same sale, not separate deals.
#1 Best Overall
| Source and year | Reported amount | How it was described |
|---|---|---|
| Agilent Technologies, 2005 | $2.66 billion | Proceeds stated in the completion announcement. |
| Agilent Technologies, 2006 | Approximately $2.6 billion | Cash proceeds, rounded in Agilent’s Form 10-K. |
| Avago Technologies, 2009 | Approximately $2.7 billion | Purchase price as reported in Avago’s purchase-accounting filing. |
What did Agilent’s chip group make?
The acquired business designed, developed and supplied analog semiconductor devices, with a focus on products based on III-V materials. Avago’s filing described markets spanning wireless communications, wired infrastructure, industrial and automotive electronics, and consumer and computing peripherals.
Its products served applications including cellular phones, consumer appliances, data-networking and telecommunications equipment, enterprise storage and servers, factory automation, displays, optical mice and printers. The portfolio therefore extended well beyond chips for phones: it also supported communications networks, computing equipment and industrial systems.
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What happened to Avago afterward?
The corporate lineage continued under the name Broadcom Limited. Broadcom Limited’s 2016 filing identifies the company as the successor to Avago Technologies Limited. In short, Agilent’s SPG became part of Avago through the 2005 sale, and Avago’s successor later operated as Broadcom Limited.
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