Cree's Wolfspeed To Be Acquired By Infineon For $850 million in cash, Shares Up

Cree, Inc.

and German-based Infineon Technologies revealed Thursday that they struck a definitive agreement enabling the German firm to acquire the Wolfspeed Power and RF division of Cree for $850 million cash. According to the two firms, the deal included the related SiC wafer substrate business for power and RF power. Following, the stock traded higher in the pre-market trading on Thursday. Cree said that its Board of Directors, as well as, Infineon's Supervisory Board have approved the transaction. Both the companies expect the closing of the transaction to happen before the end of the current year, subject to regulatory approvals. Infineon said that the acquisition allow them to offer the widest offering in compound semiconductors and would further strengthen it as a leading supplier of power and RF power solutions in high-growth markets. That included electro-mobility, renewables and next-generation cellular infrastructure pertinent for IoT. The company expects the transaction to be financed by incremental debt of $720 million and $130 million cash-on-hand. Cree Chairman and CEO, Chuck Swoboda, said: "After much consideration and due diligence over the past year, we concluded that selling Wolfspeed to Infineon was the best decision for our shareholders, employees and customers. We believe that Wolfspeed will now be able to more aggressively commercialize its unique silicon carbide and gallium nitride technology as part of Infineon." Following this, shares of Cree traded 8.77 percent higher in the pre-market trading on Thursday.