Investment bank JPMorgan says Apple is the most likely buyer of Broadcom’s wireless chip businesses.
Patrick Seitz for Investor’s Business Daily:
“We believe that Apple could be a primary suitor among system (manufacturers) for the whole business, while MediaTek could be an interested party for the RF (radio-frequency) assets,” JPMorgan analysts said in a report Tuesday. “We also do not rule out a scenario where a financial investor could be an intermediary buyer, given high FCF (free cash flow) generation from these businesses.”
Broadcom’s wireless assets include three businesses that could be sold together or separately, JPMorgan said. Those businesses are radio-frequency chips for wireless communications; Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS chips; and touch controller and wireless charging application-specific integrated circuits… JPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur values Broadcom’s wireless chip businesses at $18 billion in total. That includes $11 billion for the RF business, $6 billion for Wi-Fi and connectivity business and $1 billion for the remaining business.
MacDailyNews Take: For some perspective, Apple’s largest acquisition ever was $3 billion for Beats Electronics ($2.6 billion in cash and $400 million in stock) in 2014. See also: ‘Very big’ Apple acquisition looms; ‘people will be shocked’ – November 5, 2019