Microsemi Corporation to Acquire Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation

ALISO VIEJO and CAMARILLO, CA -- Microsemi Corporation and Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation jointly announce that Microsemi has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Vitesse for $5.28 per share through a cash tender offer, representing a premium of 32 percent based on the average closing price of Vitesse's shares of common stock during the 30 trading days ended March 17, 2015. The board of directors of Vitesse unanimously recommends that Vitesse's stockholders tender their shares in the tender offer. The total transaction value is approximately $389 million.

Headquartered in Camarillo, California, Vitesse designs a diverse portfolio of high-performance semiconductors, application software, and integrated turnkey systems solutions for carrier, enterprise and Internet of Things (IoT) networks worldwide. Vitesse's products enable the fastest-growing network infrastructure markets including mobile access/IP edge, enterprise cloud access, and industrial-IoT networking.

"This acquisition is further evidence of Microsemi's continuing commitment to grow as a communications semiconductor company," stated James J. Peterson, Microsemi chairman and CEO. "Vitesse's highly complementary technology suite will expand our product offering and accelerate growth with differentiated technology in emerging markets, while benefitting from the increased scale, consolidated infrastructure and cost savings of the combined entity."

"The proposed acquisition of Vitesse by Microsemi will create a powerful combination," said Chris Gardner, Vitesse's chief executive officer. "I believe Microsemi will be able to leverage Vitesse's Ethernet technology and capabilities further into the communications market and has the scale to implement the adoption of our industrial IoT strategy."

Microsemi expects significant synergies from this transaction and expects to see immediate accretion in the first full quarter of completion. Based on current assumptions, Microsemi expects the acquisition to be $0.16 to $0.20 per share accretive in its first full fiscal year ending September 30, 2016.

As of this date, Microsemi remains comfortable with its Jan. 22, 2015 non-GAAP guidance for its second fiscal quarter of 2015, ending March 29, 2015. Microsemi currently intends to announce its second fiscal quarter results on April 23, 2015. Further details will be forthcoming.

Webcast

Microsemi is hosting an analyst day today in New York, and will briefly address details of the transaction at that event. A live webcast and the accompanying presentation relating to the transaction will be available in the "Investors" section of Microsemi's website at http://www.microsemi.com/.

Webcast date: March 18, 2015
Time: 9-11:30 a.m. EDT
Webcast link: http://investor.microsemi.com/Microsemi-s-Analyst-Day-2015  

A replay of the company's analyst day webcast will also be available in the "Investors" section of Microsemi's website.

Learn more at
http://www.microsemi.com
http://www.vitesse.com