Inside Contactless explained that this combination would enable the company to meet the growing global demand for solutions in the payments market, the emerging NFC mobile commerce market and the electronic identification market.

"The products, technologies, customer base and operations of the SMS business would complement our own, resulting in a world-class company with greater depth and breadth to service our customers," stated Remy de Tonnac, CEO of Inside Contactless. "Atmel's SMS business has succeeded because of its people, skills and technology, and we now expect these strengths to reinforce our leadership in contactless technology and allow us to extend our business into new areas. We believe the result will be a fabless semiconductor category leader with the requisite technology, products and scale to create significant value for our customers and investors."

Atmel said it is presenting Inside Contactless' offer to the members of the Works Council in Rousset today (May 4). Once the information and consultation process with the Rousset Works Council is completed, Atmel said it will seek authorization from its Board of Directors to enter the purchase agreement with Inside. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2010.

As part of the proposed transaction, Atmel said it would make a minority equity investment in Inside Contactless.

Financial terms of the proposed Inside Contactless transaction and separate minority equity investment in the French company remained undisclosed.

By: DocMemory
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