Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) announced that the Company has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its LED Products business unit (“Cree LED”) to SMART Global Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: SGH) for up to US$ 300 million, including fixed upfront and deferred payments and contingent consideration. Mark Adams, President and CEO of SMART Global Holdings has discussed their acquisition of Cree LED.
Adams indicated that he was the former CEO at Lumileds and during his time there they started down the path looking at Cree. Cree is a great American company and he has always been intrigued by the Cree story.
In addition, though Cree does not have a lot of automotive business, they have had some recent breakthroughs and experience. It is believed that the other milestone and breakthroughs will happens in 2022, so let’s look forward to it. Furthermore, Cree specialized in specialized lighting, including emergency lighting, stadium, architectural and horticulture. As a pioneer, Cree has done unique and special things to drive better value. So has SGH as they do a lot of customized work to create added value.
Adams indicated that SGH is not taking the fab with them, which stays with Cree, as this is an asset-light deal. Cree will be their supplier as they move to an outsource business model. Probably 75% to 80% comes from North Carolina right now but that is moving to a manufacturing partner- Epistar / Lextar in Taiwan for high-power LED and San’an for mid-power LED.
SGH revenues are approaching US$1.2 billion, including four different businesses: high performance computing, memory modules, embedded computing and wireless IoT. In addition, there are 400 employees located throughout the Cree campus. There is this passionate group of talented LED employees. SGH has a license in perpetuity for the application rights on Cree LED brand. With SGH’s support, it is expected that Cree LED will be the primary story in the future. The fair deal will benefit both companies to create win-win solutions.
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