Atlantic Bridge sells GloNav

Atlantic Bridge Ventures, the European technology private equity, said on Friday that it is selling US-headquartered GloNav to one of the worlds’ top ten semiconductor companies, NXP Semiconductors, founded by Philips.

The US$110m transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008, will involve an initial cash payment of US$85m, with a further US$25 million payable based on the achievement of targets.

Atlantic Bridge established GloNav in 2006, through the spin-out of Ceva’s GPS business and merger with Californian-based RFDomus, to become its largest shareholder.

Since then, Atlantic Bridge has provided the sole finance to GloNav’s growth.