Infineon spinoff acquires WLAN IP

Metalink Ltd. has entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement to sell its wireless local area network (WLAN) business to Lantiq, a fabless semiconductor company funded by Golden Gate Capital. Lantiq will pay Metalink up to $16.9 million in cash.

Right now, Metalink (Yakum), Israel) appears to be in trouble. Revenues for the third quarter of 2009 were $0.5 million, comprising solely of WLAN sales, compared with revenues of $0.8 million for the comparable period in 2008, the majority of which were legacy DSL sales.

Net loss for the third quarter of 2009 was $4.0 million, or minus $0.16 per share, compared to a loss of $3.0 million, or minus $0.13 per share, for the third quarter of 2008.

Meanwhile, last year, struggling German chip group Infineon sold its wireline communications operation to an affiliate of U.S. private equity firm Golden Gate Capital for 250 million euro (about $350 million).

The company, Lantiq, employs 900 people at 14 sites in the Asia Pacific region, North America and Europe. Headquartered in Neubiberg, Germany, the company will offer a broadband communication portfolio encompassing analog, digital and mixed-signal ICs along with comprehensive software suites.

In October, Lantiq took over home networking-related technology from Aware Inc (Bedford, Mass.). In addition, Lantiq plans to launch a technology competence center focused at this topic at Aware's location.