Private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Silver Lake Partners will pay about $2.66 billion for the semiconductor business, while the Netherland's Royal Philips Electronics will buy Agilent's 47 percent stake in Lumileds Lighting for about $950 million, plus the repayment of about $50 million of debt from Lumileds.

Agilent plans to use the proceeds to repurchase stocks of roughly 4 billion. It will also call its $1.15 billion convertible bond debenture, potentially reducing shares outstanding by 36 million.

Agilent at the same time said net income rose to $104 million, or 21 cents per share, in the third quarter ended on July 31 from $100 million, or 20 cents per share, in the year-earlier period.

Due to lower costs, net income rose even as revenue declined 10 percent, to $1.69 billion from $1.89 billion. Orders were up one percent versus a year ago at $1.80 billion. Gross margins improved by over two percentage points compared with last year.

Excluding restructuring costs and other items, Agilent said it earned 28 cents per share, at the high end of expectations of 23 cents to 28 cents per share.The average estimate was 26 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.

By: DocMemory
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