The Mobileye (NYSE: MBLY) shareholders' meeting yesterday approved the sale of the company to Intel by a crushing 98.2% majority. The majority actually constituted 58% of all the shareholders in Mobileye, because not all the shareholders attended the meeting or cast proxy votes. Only 0.04% of the votes cast were against the deal (0.02% of all the company shareholders), and 1.8% abstained.
Intel is expected to pay $63.54 per share for Mobileye, making a total of $15.3 billion. The Mobileye share price is $62.80, close to the share price for the acquisition, and reflecting a $14 billion market cap.
The shareholders also ratified several clauses pertaining to the acquisition required for the completion of the deal. Final completion is subject to several more conditions, including regulatory approval.
Founded by chairman and CTO Amnon Shashua and CEO Ziv Aviram, Jerusalem-based Mobileye developed a technological system that issues warnings about hazards in driving on the roads. The system includes chips, software, sensors and cameras. The company's main current growth engine is systems it is developing that will facilitate production of an autonomous car.
At the beginning of the month, Mobileye published its financial results for the first quarter of 2017, with revenue up 65.8% to $125 million and $33.5 million in net accounting profit, 52.9% more than in the first quarter of 2016. Non-GAAP net profit (excluding payments to employees and expenses relating to the sale to Intel) was $60 million, 72.6% more than in the corresponding quarter last year. Mobileye generated $56.6 million in cash flow during the quarter, and had $674 million in cash as of the end of the first quarter.
With the publication of the company's reports, Aviram said, "The acquisition by Intel will combine the two companies' technologies, the best of their kind, and expedite our creation of value for the auto industry, while generating high value for the shareholders."
Mobileye held its Wall Street IPO in August 2014 at a company value of $5.3 billion and a $25 share price, making the price of the deal with Intel 154% higher than the company value in its IPO.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on June 14, 2017
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