May 5, 2010 (FinancialWire) – Atmel Corp. (NASDAQ: ATML), a firm offering microcontroller and touch solutions, said that France-based Inside Contactless S.A. has submitted it a signed agreement offering to purchase, for cash consideration, Atmel's Secure Microcontroller Solutions business, which is based in Rousset, France and East Kilbride, UK.

As part of the proposed transaction, Atmel would make a minority equity investment in Inside.  In addition, Inside would enter into a multi-year supply agreement to continue sourcing wafers from the fabrication operation in Rousset, France that Atmel recently agreed to sell to LFoundry GmbH.

Atmel said it is presenting Inside’s offer to the members of the Works Council in Rousset today.  After completion of the information and consultation process with the Rousset Works Council in accordance with French law, Atmel said it will seek authorization from its board of directors to enter into the purchase agreement with Inside

The transaction scheduled to close in the second half of 2010, subject to closing conditions.  

Atmel said that the pending deal is part of the firm’s pursuit of strategic alternatives for its ASIC business and related manufacturing assets, and follows an agreement to sell Atmel's wafer fabrication operation in Rousset, France, to LFoundry GmbH. That deal is scheduled to close during the second quarter of 2010.  

Financial terms of the proposed Inside transaction and separate minority equity investment in Inside were not disclosed.

California-based Atmel is engaged in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, capacitive touch solutions, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency components.

Atmel serves customers in the electronics industry with system solutions focused on industrial, consumer, security, communications, computing and automotive markets.  

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