Vision Group Plc, the Edinburgh, Scotland-based camera-on-a-chip company, has finally given up the struggle to continue as an independent operator and has accepted a 23.3m-pound cash bid from STMicroelectronics NV, the French semiconductor group. While Vision has enjoyed technological leadership in complementary metal oxide semiconductors (CMOS), the company has struggled financially and last year recorded net losses of 5.8m pounds on revenues that dropped 28% to 8.4m pounds. A 90-strong outfit like Vision clearly needed a strong ally to survive and appeared to have found one when they announced a partnership with Siemens AG in September. Vision is adamant that the Siemens partnership will be unaffected by the takeover – and both companies believe their worldwide marketing operations can benefit a small company like Vision. STMicroelectronics, which is offering 62 pence for each Vision share, believes the acquisition is a good fit as they both share a system-on-a-chip philosophy and STM lacks any CMOS expertise. Philip Geyres, corporate vice president of STM, said the acquisition would strengthen them in key applications such as computer peripherals, digital video and automotive. The bid has already been accepted by holders of 19.9% of Vision’s shares.
