March 28, 2002 – Intersil Corp., a maker of wireless communication and power management chips, has won antitrust clearance from US regulators to acquire Elantec Semiconductor Inc. for $998 million.

The Federal Trade Commission said it has ended its review of the deal, first announced on March 11, reported Reuters. Under the agreement, Intersil will swap 1.24 of its shares and $8 in cash for each Elantec share. Shares of Intersil were up 21 cents to $28.01 in late afternoon NASDAQ trading, while Elantec was up 34 cents at $42.45.

Intersil designs wireless networking and high-performance analog solutions that enable wireless access to video, data, and voice in a variety of locations. The acquisition, the third by Intersil, is part of the company’s strategy to expand into high-growth analog markets.

Intersil has said it expects the deal to result in cost savings through consolidation. As a result, it expects the acquisition to add to 2003 earnings per share, excluding the impact of amortization expenses.

The companies plan to close the deal during 2Q02.