Portland — President Donald Trump has blocked the $1.3 billion sale of Lattice Semiconductor to Chinese investors over national security concerns, a widely expected decision that would seem to rule out most of its previous suitors from making another run at the Oregon company.
Lattice, Portland’s largest tech company, has been trying since November to sell itself to Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, a Chinese-backed investment fund. But investors had always considered the deal a long shot, especially after nearly two dozen members of Congress condemned it late last year on the grounds that China’s growing, state-sponsored semiconductor industry posed a threat to national security.
The administration ultimately agreed, with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin citing the “potential transfer of intellectual property to the foreign acquirer” for the decision to block the deal. He also noted the “importance of semiconductor supply chain integrity to the U.S. government, and the use of Lattice products by the U.S. government,” according to a statement released Wednesday.
Though Trump’s decision isn’t a surprise, it does create lots of uncertainty for Lattice. Its stock never approached the $8.30 a share that Canyon Bridge offered, and it is now trading well below where it was before the companies announced the deal in November.
Lattice lamented Trump’s order and said the China deal would have benefited shareholders and created jobs.
“We will continue to focus on initiatives that will contribute to Lattice’s long term success, specifically in areas where our affordable, low power, small form factor devices create advantages,” the Portland company said in a written statement. “Lattice’s future remains bright.”
Founded in Oregon 34 years ago by veterans of Tektronix and Intel, Lattice makes a class of programmable computer chip used in consumer gadgets and industrial and networking equipment. Though the Portland company has largely exited the defense business, critics of the deal warned the programmable chips could have military applications.
Earlier this month, a federal panel called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States recommended that Trump block the Lattice deal.
Federal law gives the president the final say on transactions with potential national security implications, so Lattice and Canyon Bridge appealed directly to Trump in the hopes he might overrule the committee.
While Lattice is a relatively small chip company, its prospective sale with China had been closely watched around the world as a signal on Chinese interest in developing its own chip industry and the United States’ reaction to those efforts.
In December, a bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers asked that the federal government block the deal. The group, which included U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon, warned Chinese efforts to advance its semiconductor industry could come at the expense of the United States.
“We are obviously disappointed in today’s decision by the President of the United States to forgo what we believe to be an excellent deal for Lattice’s shareholders and its employees by expanding the opportunity to keep jobs in America,” Canyon Bridge said in a written statement.
The firm said it will seek to invest in other companies. Bloomberg reported last week that Canyon Bridge is preparing a bid for a British tech company, Imagination Technologies, that would exclude Imagination’s U.S. operations.
Lattice had 1,000 employees worldwide at the end of last year, though it laid off 30 in July and sold a division in India that had at least 150 employees. The company reported $427 million in sales last year, and a net loss of $54.1 million. In recent years the company has employed a few hundred in the Portland area.
Lattice said it spent $2.5 million in the first six months of 2017 on expenses related to the Canyon Bridge deal.
Trump’s decision puts Lattice in a tough spot. Canyon Bridge offered $8.30 a share for a stock that was trading at $6.37 last November. It closed Wednesday at $5.72.
Lattice shopped itself for more than a year before agreeing to the Canyon Bridge deal, and securities filings show it drew interest from several Chinese suitors. But the unraveling of the Canyon Bridge proposal does not bode well for any other China deals.
At least one U.S. company made a bid, but Lattice said it offered “significantly” less than Canyon Bridge.
Early in the process, the filings show Lattice intended to demand a significant breakup fee from any Chinese suitor if federal authorities blocked a deal on national security grounds. Ultimately, though, the Canyon Bridge deal did not include such a fee.
