UK chip designer Imagination bought by Chinese firm
中国企业成功收购英国芯片企业 Imagination
UK technology firm Imagination, which designs graphics chips for smartphones, is being bought for £550m by a Chinese-backed investment firm.
设计智能手机图形处理芯片的 Imagination 已经被中国投资公司收购。购买价格为 5.5 亿英镑。
Imagination put itself up for sale in June after Apple, its largest customer, said it would stop using its products.
苹果停止使用 Imagination 产品后，Imagination 今年6月提议出售自身。
The boss of Imagination, Andrew Heath, said the takeover by China-backed Canyon Bridge was a "very good outcome" and would ensure it remained in the UK.
Imagination 持有人 Andrew Heath 对本次企业收购感到满意，并认为这次企业收购将会保证 Imagination 留在英国境内。
It becomes the latest UK chip designer to be bought by a foreign investor.
Imagination 成为又一个被国外投资机构购买的芯片设计企业。
Last year, ARM, which designs microchip technology used in Apple and Samsung smartphones, was bought by Japan's Softbank for £24bn.
去年，为苹果三星智能手机设计芯片的 ARM 被日本软银收购。收购价格240 亿英镑。
Canyon Bridge recently raised $1.5bn (£1.1bn) from Chinese investors and has offices in Beijing and San Francisco.
Canyon Bridge 最近募集到 11 亿英镑的资金。
'British innovation'
The firm said it currently has no plans to cut jobs at Hertfordshire-based Imagination after the takeover.
Ray Bingham, a partner at Canyon Bridge, said: "We are investing in UK talent and expertise in order to accelerate the expansion of Imagination, particularly into Asia, where its technology platform will lead the continued globalisation of British-developed innovation."
Imagination saw its shares halve in value when Apple said in April that it would end a deal to use its products.
The two firms are still engaged in a dispute over the move - with Imagination questioning Apple's "assertions" that it would be able to develop its own computer chip designs without breaching Imagination's intellectual property rights.
Apple's royalty payments for the chip technology, used in its iPhones, iPads and iPods, accounted for about half of Imagination's revenues.
Mr Heath said: "Imagination has made excellent progress both operationally and financially over the last 18 months until Apple's unsubstantiated assertions and the subsequent dispute forced us to change course.
"The acquisition will ensure that Imagination - with its strong growth prospects - remains an independent IP licensing business, based in the UK, but operating around the world."
It is not Canyon Bridge's first deal for a Western tech company.
这不是 Canyon Bridge 首次收购西方的科技企业。
The firm is seeking approval for a $1.3bn deal to buy US chipmaker Lattice Semiconductor.
Canyon Bridge 正在等待美国政府批准1项企业收购方案。 美国芯片公司 Lattice Semiconductor 的 13 亿美元收购方案。
Last week, the Trump administration barred the sale of Lattice to the Chinese-backed company, citing national security risks.
上星期特朗普总统叫停本项企业收购。
