Perlegos has been meeting with private equity firms ''to drum up interest for his bid,'' according to the report.

The move also follows reports on Tuesday (Oct. 11) that FMR Corp. boosted its stake in Atmel, based here. FMR, which owns the Fidelity Investments family of mutual funds, increased its share to about a 12 percent stake in the chip maker.

FMR now owns 56.8 million of Atmel's shares, making it the largest shareholder in the firm, according to the report.

It's been a topsy-turvy period for Atmel. As reported, Atmel recently disclosed that it fired Perlegos, its president and chief executive, and three others over alleged misuse of corporate travel funds. At the time, Atmel named Steven Laub, currently a director, as the company's president and CEO.

The move to terminate its CEO and three other executives could accelerate the company's much-needed restructuring efforts and may even prompt another takeover offer, according to an analyst.

The power struggle at Atmel, a microcontroller and memory vendor, recently heated up, as Perlegos sued the company who fired him.

By: DocMemory
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