Zoran Corp. (Nasdaq: ZRAN) has acquired French fabless semiconductor company Let It Wave for up to $27.6 million in cash. The acquisition is due to be closed next week. Let It Wave has patent-pending technology for video frame rate conversion and image enhancement capabilities for flat panel televisions and other consumer electronics products.

Zoran develops processors for consumer electronics applications and digital imaging. The share rose 5% in pre-market trading today. The company had $315 million in cash at the end of March, and announced a $100 million share buy-back plan last month.

Zoran predicts, "The transaction will be accretive on a non-GAAP basis no later than the second half of 2009, with minimal impact to its earnings for the remainder of 2008 on a non-GAAP basis." Basically, the acquisition will contribute to Zoran's technology, not its financial results in the short term.

Let It Wave was founded in 2001, and raised €6 million from two European venture capital funds two years ago.

Zoran SVP and general manager Home Entertainment division Ram Ofir said, "By combining the Let It Wave team with our own highly qualified team of video and image processing engineers, we believe we can deliver the highest-quality video solutions to multiple fast-growing consumer electronics markets."

Zoran closed yesterday at $15, giving a market cap of $777 million. The share has fallen by a third since the beginning of the year, but has been climbing in recent weeks.

Oscar Gruss & Sons analyst Ziv Tal said, "The acquisition of Let It Wave is a needed technology acquisition for Zoran. Some of the blue seen on television screens can be solved by switching to 120-hertz technology processors, which is where the industry is headed. Zoran's current technology uses 60-hertz technology, and this acquisition put it into a new a growing field."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 5, 2008

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