British chip-maker Imagination Technologies announced a deal to sell itself to Canyon Bridge Capital Partners on Friday, less than a week after the Chinese buyer was blocked from a purchase in the US by President Trump, reports Chinese financial news outlet Caixin.
The Chinese group is offering a 43% premium, and the deal depends on Imagination first selling its US chip designer unit Mips, a move necessary to avoid further scrutiny by US regluators.
The deal may stand a better chance than the attempt to buy lattice in the US, as UK has been more receptive to Chinese investments in sensitive industries, including allowing a Chinese company to bid on a local nuclear power project.
But professor at the Peking University HSBC Business School in Shenzhen, Christopher Balding, noted that the deal is far from done.
“Given the immediacy of the new purchase and the price paid, it does again raise concerns this is not done based upon business concerns but upon a Beijing-ordered national strategy,” Balding said.