On Thursday, June 22, stock market shares of British Chip designer Imagination Technologies soared over 20 percent after the company stated that it was putting itself up for sale. The news comes months after Apple - for which Imagination designed chips - indicated that it would not be using the British chip designer’s technology in its products from 2019. Imagination stated that it has “received interest” from several firms for a possible acquisition over the last few weeks.
Imagination Technologies goes up for sale
Till date, many buyers have shown interest in Imagination for a planned purchase of the entire group.
On June 22, a regulatory filing from the company stated that the board has decided to start the formal process for the selling off the group. The management is currently in the initial discussion stage with the potential buyers.
Early on Thursday, shares of Imagination gained around 17 percent in the London stock market to change hands at 142 pence each. Initially, after Apple announced its split from the British chip designing company, its shares fell more than 35 percent. Imagination in May declared that it had started the process of selling off the Ensigma and MIPS operations.
Apple leaves Imagination in hot water
The decision to put Imagination up for sale comes after the former’s dispute with the Cupertino-based company after it stated that it would not be employing Imagination's intellectual property in its products from 2019.
Apart from that, Apple – the company’s biggest client- also stated that the chip designing company would not be entitled to any royalty payments under its current agreement and license.
The split from the iPhone maker resulted in Imagination losing more than $625 million from its market value in less than 15 minutes. The day the former announced its decision, Imagination’s shares fell by a whopping 70 percent.
On June 21, Imaginations’ shares closed at 123.5 pence. At that juncture, Imagination stated that it would be an “extremely challenging” job for Apple to design a brand new GPU structure from scratch, without violating its intellectual property (IP) rights.
Imagination said on June 22 that it was still in disagreement with Apple Inc.
However, in May, the company commenced dispute resolution proceedings with the iPhone maker to resolve problems associated with intellectual property. However, the chip making company stated that it has made little progress in talks with Apple and is looking for a substitute commercial arrangement for the royalty agreement and current license.
