marvell acquires aquantia corp., the first successful exit project of walden cel global fund i
aquantia corp. (nyse: aq), a portfolio company of walden cel global fund i which is a private equity fund co-invested by china everbright limited (“everbright”, stock code: 165.hk) and walden international, had been impacted by the significant news of major merger & acquisition, accelerates the successful exit of the investment. the project is the first deal to be withdrawn after the first year of the fund's establishment and the return on investment (irr) is approximately 36%.
on may 6, marvell technology group ltd. (nasdaq: mrvl), a leading full-service broadband communications and storage solutions semiconductor company, announced in a definitive agreement with aquantia that, after the approval of the boards of directors of both companies, under which marvell will acquire all outstanding shares of aquantia common stock in exchange for consideration of us$13.25 per share in cash, representing the company valuation of aquantia is approximately us$452 million. marvell’s source of funds for the acquisition came from cash and bank loans. the transaction is not subject to any financing condition and is expected to close by the end of 2019, subject to regulatory approval as well as other customary closing conditions, including the adoption by aquantia's stockholders of the merger agreement. the acquisition of aquantia complements marvell's product features in connectivity function and especially extends its position in high-speed automotive network products. in particular, aquantia is the world's leading innovator of high-speed ethernet connectivity communication chips to accelerate the transition from gigabit ethernet to 10 gigabit ethernet applied in data centers, enterprise infrastructure and automobiles. aquantia features multi-gig (2.5g/ 5g /10g/100g) ethernet controllers, which benefits marvell to offering the most appropriate products for level 4 and level 5 autopilot systems.
walden cel global fund i, co-invested by cel and walden international group, was established in 2018, with a targeting size of us $500 million and achieved us$163 million at first closing. the fund primarily focuses on global investment opportunities in equity and equity-related securities of growth or mature stage companies in semiconductor or electronic information industries, especially concentrating on cross-border investments caused by the relocation of semiconductor and electronic information industry development in asia and pacific area. the fund is expected to leverage both investors’ experiences of industrial operation and capital market in order to integrate edge-tech and thriving business models of the portfolio companies into china’s market to satisfy china’s urgent demand in semiconductor and advanced technology in electronic engineering and related industrial utilization. furthermore, this could accelerate the technology improvement, upgrade, and development of china’s semiconductor industry.
at present, the fund has invested in 10 outstanding companies in the world including, acm research, asr microelectronics and tong dun technology, etc., covering semiconductor chip design, smart wearable devices, high-end precision equipment manufacturing, intelligent data analysis and other sub-segments. as of today, two portfolio companies have gone ipo on us stock exchange which are aquantia corp. (nyse: aq) and acm research (nasdaq: acmr), while another one has been closed to be merged by a china a-share listed company, which proves the outstanding performance of the fund.
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this fund is for professional investors only. investment has risk and the past performance of the fund does not represent future performance. professional investors should read the relevant sales documents (including the risk factors contained therein).
