Synopsys Inc., a US company that makes software for designing semiconductors, said it has completed its acquisition of closely held German software company PikeTec GmbH, strengthening its autonomous driving operations.
(Bloomberg) — Synopsys Inc., a US company that makes software for designing semiconductors, said it has completed its acquisition of closely held German software company PikeTec GmbH, strengthening its autonomous driving operations.
PikeTec is valued in the transaction at more than $200 million, Bloomberg News reported before Synopsys announced the deal Wednesday. Without disclosing the terms, Synopsys said in a statement that they were “not material” to its financials.
PikeTec, owned by the German private equity firm ECM Equity Capital Management, makes testing and verification of automotive software for control unit systems.
“As the automotive industry evolves towards software-defined vehicles, so does the need for more efficient and effective software testing methods,” PikeTec Chief Executive Officer Jens Lüdemann said in the statement.
Shares of Mountain View, California-based Synopsys rose 2.7% to $448.24 in New York trading Wednesday, giving the company a market value of $68 billion.
Synopsys is one of the two major electronic design automation companies serving the semiconductor market and competes with Cadence Design Systems Inc.
A takeover of PikeTec fits the company’s strategy of doing a steady stream of tuck-in acquisitions worth a few hundred million dollars each over the past two decades.
PikeTec makes embedded testing software tools. It was founded in 2007 in Berlin by executives who knew each other from the research department of Daimler AG, according to its website.
ECM Equity Capital Management, a private equity firm focused on small and mid-cap companies, was one of the first investors in wind turbine maker Vestas and earlier this year sold dermatology practice chain Dermatologikum Group to Bergman Clinics.
“Since the beginning of our partnership in 2019, we have supported management in accelerating PikeTec’s successful growth path and in driving the internationalization of the company,” ECM Managing Partner Florian Kaehler said in an emailed statement on Thursday.
–With assistance from Ian King and Vinicy Chan.
(Updates with ECM background and comment starting in ninth paragraph.)
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