Motorola Inc’s executives, past and present, have put in a bid to buy the company’s semiconductor components unit for $1.6bn. The TFG Acquisition Unit, which says it has full financial backing, made its first offer at the end of March, and has since updated the bid. In the midst of re-structuring, Motorola has been rumored to be looking for a buyer for the 14,000 staff unit, which has facilities in nine countries. TFG says the bid is contingent upon due diligence, finalization of purchase terms and approval by Motorola. The acting CEO of the group is Harjit Bhalla, formerly VP and director of market research for Motorola. The acting CFO is Gary Thomas, formerly Motorola’s Controller of the Power Products division. It says it won’t consider material layoffs and would keep all operating plants open under the new company name. The unit sells mostly standard discrete, analogue and logic chips. Motorola hadn’t commented as we went to press.
