• M&A

SYMEO (Spin-out of Siemens) Sale to ANALOG DEVICES

The Company:

Symeo GmbH is a privately held company based in Munich, Germany, that specializes in RADAR hardware and software for emerging autonomous automotive and industrial applications. Symeo’s industrial high precision RADAR technology was originally developed within Siemens AG (XETRA: SIE) and subsequently spun-out as an independent entity in 2005 by the Siemens Technology Accelerator GmbH (STA).

The Transaction:

With the spin-out as an independent company, it had been basically established that a new owner should be found for Symeo at the right time. After the company had already developed and successfully marketed a number of innovative products in the field of industrial radar, while further innovation - especially in the field of software for autonomous vehicles - was in the development pipeline, the question arose at the time of the transaction as to which partner could optimally support the further development of the technology and the respective marketing approaches, in order to find the suitable group of buyers from which to set up the right M&A process.

During the preliminary discussions on the mandate and subsequently during the preparation of the transaction, it became clear that different technologies and competencies of the Symeo portfolio would fit very different buyer groups and that even within the respective groups, starting points could be located at different points of the relevant value chains. 

Against this background, a process design was chosen for the M&A process under which various buyer groups from the industrial and automotive sectors were approached in the transaction process in a chronologically coordinated manner in order to systematically identify the best buyer group and the best buyer.

After intensive dialogs with a broad interest group of strategic investors from Europe, the USA and Asia, the American listed group Analog Devices was ultimately selected as the optimal partner. 

Analog Devices (Nasdaq: ADI) designs and manufactures semiconductor products and solutions. ADI enables its customers to interpret the world around them by intelligently bridging the physical and digital with unmatched technologies that sense, measure and connect.

Scope of Mandate:

ARGONAS advised and supported Siemens as well as the other shareholders of Symeo and the management as exclusive sell-side advisor in all streams of the preparation and implementation of the process.