Exit watch, week of Dec. 24, 2007

FTC gives nod to Google’s purchase of DoubleClick

The Federal Trade Commission last week granted approval for Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) to acquire online advertising company DoubleClick Inc. for $3.1 billion. The deal had been facing opposition from consumer privacy groups over Google’s privacy practices. The Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet company must still gain clearance from the European Commission before it proceeds with its acquisition, which it announced earlier this year.

Current DoubleClick owners Hellman & Friedman and JMI Equity bought DoubleClick in 2005 for $1.1 billion.

I-Flow acquires AcryMed

Lake Forest, Calif.-based I-Flow, a developer of catheters and other drug delivery systems, has agreed to acquire AcryMed Inc., an Oregon, Ore.-based developer of tissue repair technologies. I-Flow said that it would pay $25 million in cash for the company. AcryMed has raised about $6 million in funding from Fluke Venture Partners, Pacific Northwest Partners and Northwest Technology Ventures.

Teradyne scoops up Nextest for $325M

(NYSE: TER), a North Reading, Mass.-based electronics test equipment supplier, has agreed to acquire Nextest Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: NEXT), a maker of automatic test equipment for semiconductors, for about $325 million. TheDeal.com reported that the all-cash sale will complete the exit of the venture companies that backed Nextest in its lone round of venture capital funding in November 2001. That $20 million round, which priced each Nextest share at $2.50, was co-led by New York-based Needham & Co. and J&W Seligman & Co. The other investors in the round included Merrill Lynch & Co., Cowen Capital Partners, Roser Ventures, Anthem Venture Partners and memory developer Atmel Corp. of San Jose, Calif.

Atheros buys u-Nav

(Nasdaq: ATHR) has agreed to acquire u-Nav Microelectronics, an Irvine, Calif.-based fabless maker of GPS chipsets and related software. The deal is valued at $54 million, including $15.4 million in cash and 1.28 million shares of Atheros common stock. It also includes various earnouts. U-Nav has raised nearly $35 million in VC funding since 2001 from such firms as Shelter Capital Partners, Nordic Venture Partners, iSherpa Ventures and Trimble Navigation.