Wednesday, August 16th 2023

Silicon Motion Terminates Merger Agreement with MaxLinear and Intends to Pursue Substantial Damages

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation ("Silicon Motion" or the "Company") today issued a written notice to MaxLinear, Inc. ("MaxLinear"), terminating the Agreement and Plan of Merger between the parties dated as of May 5, 2022 (the "Merger Agreement"1).

Silicon Motion's position is that MaxLinear's Willful and Material Breaches (as such term is defined in the Merger Agreement) of the Merger Agreement prevented the merger from being completed by August 7, 2023 (the "Outside Date"). Silicon Motion reserves all of its contractual, legal, equitable, and other rights under the Merger Agreement and otherwise, including but not limited to the right to hold MaxLinear liable for substantial money damages, well in excess of the termination fee as provided in the Merger Agreement, suffered by Silicon Motion as a result of MaxLinear's Willful and Material Breaches of the Merger Agreement.
Pursuant to Section 7.1(d) of the Merger Agreement, the Company has the right to terminate the Merger Agreement if the completion of the merger contemplated by the Merger Agreement (the "Merger") did not occur on or before the "Outside Date".

Tim Gardner, partner of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, counsel to the Company, commented as follows:

"MaxLinear's purported termination of its Merger Agreement with Silicon Motion will be the subject of an arbitration for substantial damages in the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, as provided under the parties' agreement. MaxLinear's professed reason for terminating the agreement - that Silicon Motion suffered a Material Adverse Effect ("MAE") - is a pretext and has been rejected in case after case under Delaware law, which governs the MAE issue, where buyers have sought to back out of merger agreements at the eleventh hour. The damages Silicon Motion will seek to recover far exceed the termination fee."

The Company also announced that it intends to resume its policy of declaring and paying dividends on an annual basis, at the discretion of its Board of Directors, after the termination of the Merger Agreement, which restricted the Company's ability to declare and pay any dividend.

"We are resuming Silicon Motion's annual dividend policy because of the resilience of our business, strength of our balance sheet and our continuing commitment to return capital to our shareholders," said Wallace Kou, President and CEO of Silicon Motion.

The Company's decision to declare any dividend, and the timing and amounts thereof, will be subject to discretion and approval of the Board of Directors and will depend on, among other things, whether the dividend payment is in the best interests of our shareholders, business visibility, results of operations, capital availability and future capital requirements, financial condition, statutory requirements, and other factors that the Board may deem relevant.
Source: Silicon Motion
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6 Comments on Silicon Motion Terminates Merger Agreement with MaxLinear and Intends to Pursue Substantial Damages

#1
Wye
Don't post legalese puke. it's gross.
Posted on Reply
#2
TheLostSwede
News Editor
WyeDon't post legalese puke. it's gross.
Twice today...
Posted on Reply
#3
bonehead123
Dammit, I just knew someone, somewhere would come up with an excuse to stop the falling m.2 prices, and now we know who & why :(
Posted on Reply
#4
lexluthermiester
TheLostSwedeSilicon Motion Technology Corporation ("Silicon Motion" or the "Company") today issued a written notice to MaxLinear, Inc. ("MaxLinear"), terminating the Agreement and Plan of Merger between the parties dated as of May 5, 2022 (the "Merger Agreement"1).
Oh, now THEY'RE trying to terminate the merger? LOL! This now screams undisclosed aspects on the part of Silicon Motion... Who called it?
Posted on Reply
#5
trsttte
lexluthermiesterOh, now THEY'RE trying to terminate the merger? LOL! This now screams undisclosed aspects on the part of Silicon Motion... Who called it?
I don't think this means anything, MaxLinear already had decided not to go through, to me this sounds like a procedural thing as relations between the companies went sour.

Remains to be seen what happens next as Silicon Motion pursues damages, if they failed to disclose things before when the merger was still on it's quite risky to go make waves in court so we'll see
Posted on Reply
#6
lexluthermiester
trsttteI don't think this means anything, MaxLinear already had decided not to go through
Yeah, that's what I was talking about. I had commented about this in the original article a few days ago.
trsttteto me this sounds like a procedural thing as relations between the companies went sour.
I wouldn't disagree with that. Totally possible.
trsttteRemains to be seen what happens next as Silicon Motion pursues damages
I doubt they'll get anything, IF they're foolish enough to take it to a court.
trsttteif they failed to disclose things before when the merger was still on it's quite risky to go make waves in court so we'll see
That is my theory. Talked about this in the other article thread. This is usually, but not always, what happens when a company backs out of a merger. This would also not be the first time SiliconMotion has failed to disclose facts when appropriate.
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