Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Silver Lake Partners have agreed to purchase Agilent Technologies’ Semiconductor Products segment for $2.66 billion (€2.21 billion), as the measurement and technology company refocuses its business and sheds non-core assets.
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Adrian Dillon, the company’s chief financial officer, explained the move to the Associated Press: “It’s been true since the inception of the company, we’ve performed more like a sluggish semiconductor company than the world’s premier measurement company. It has been a case of the semiconductor tail wagging the measurement dog.”
Agilent, which spun off from Hewlett-Packard in 2000, plans to cut around 1,300 jobs and reduce infrastructure costs by $450 million in an attempt to refocus on its core measurement and test businesses. It also announced plans to sell its stake in San Jose, California-based lighting company Lumileds to Royal Philips Electronics and is spinning off its system-on-a-chip and memory test businesses next year.
Agilent’s New York Stock Exchange-traded shares were up $3.92, or 15 percent, closing at $30.33 Monday.
KKR and Silver Lake were also a part of the $11.3 billion SunGard Data Systems buyout, which closed on Thursday. The purchase of the integrated software maker was first announced last March.