Cadence Takes a Page Out of Microsoft’s Playbook

With the Microsoft-Yahoo! drama fresh on everyone’s mind, Mike Fister and the Cadence board have finally done something that shows a bit of boldness, some imagination, and possibly some courage. Cadence has made a hostile takeover bid for Mentor Graphics.

Synopsys Looks Healthy, But

In our EDA review, Synopsys (Nasdaq: SNPS) is the second major player, always going neck-to-neck with Cadence. Synopsys announced Q4 earnings on December 6, 2007. Unlike the losses posted by competitor Mentor, Synopsys executives were quite pleased with their results and momentum throughout the year enabling Synopsys to meet or exceed all of their original

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Cadence: Buyout Rumors Persist

I have regularly commented on the EDA industry and discussed specific companies in the past, including Cadence, Mentor, Magma, and Synopsys. Today I come back to look at Cadence again, and examine what has changed since. During the summer Cadence (CDNS) was rumored to be in buyout discussions with Blackstone and KKR, which I said

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Educate LBO: Done

I had speculated in For Profit Education – More LBOs Coming that Educate (EEEE) and Apollo (APOL) were next up, at the heels of Laureate’s (LAUR) acquisition by KKR and associates. I had missed the announcement that Educate’s management has already arranged such a deal to take the owners of Sylvan tutoring services private. Tutoring

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For Profit Education: More LBOs Coming

Marketwatch reports: The board of Laureate Education (LAUR), a for-profit provider of higher education, has agreed to a $3.1 billion buyout led by founder and Chief Executive Douglas L. Becker and backed by a private equity consortium including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Citigroup Private Equity and hedge fund S.A.C. Capital Management LLC. Under the

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Private Equity Needs Exit

WSJ reports that UGS, owned by Siemens, Bain Capital and Silverlake, is about to be sold to Siemens, for $3.5 Billion. The company was purchased 3 years back for $2 Billion. Deals have become much larger since. The WSJ articles hints at an issue the industry is facing: Exit. While there may be players who

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Professor Calculus triggers an LBO?

Need Help With Calculus? Tutors Coach U.S. Students Online — From India is an article from the Wall Street Journal. Tanu Basu lives in Boston, but when she wants extra coaching in math, the 16-year-old American gets online and spends an hour reviewing calculus with an Indian teacher who is based in a suburb of

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Mentor Graphics: Target for SilverLake?

Mentor Graphics is No. 3 in the Electronics Design Automation (EDA) market, after Cadence and Synopsys. The EDA market itself is not that large, roughly $4 Billion, declining rapidly to $3.5 Bilion due to its tough price-wars. Such a market cannot support 3 major players, and Mentor ought to be a classic acquisition target for

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