Bloomberg: SanDisk In Advanced Talks To Sell Itself To Western Digital

(RTTNews) - Flash memory card maker SanDisk Corp. (SNDK) is in advanced talks to sell itself to hard disk drive maker Western Digital Corp. (WDC) and a deal could be reached as soon as this week, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

According to the Bloomberg report, SanDisk was earlier in talks with both Western Digital and Micron Technology about a deal. The Milpitas, California-based company is one of the largest makers of flash memory, a type of chip used as storage in mobile devices and computers as well as in data centers.

In late September, China's Unisplendour Corp. agreed to buy a 15 percent stake in Western Digital for $3.8 billion. Unisplendour will have the right to nominate one representative to the Western Digital board of directors following the investment. The company's board representative right will be terminated if its stake falls below 10 percent.

2015 has been a record year for dealmaking in the semiconductor industry as rising costs and weak revenue growth force chipmakers to combine. Intel Corp. (INTC), the world's largest chipmaker, said in June that it will buy programmable chip maker Altera Corp. (ALTR) for about $16.7 billion in cash.

Mixed signal solutions provider NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXPI) said in March that it has agreed to buy embedded processing solutions provider Freescale Semiconductor Ltd (FSL) for about $16.7 billion in cash and stock.

Singapore-based Avago Technologies Ltd. (AVGO) said in late May that it will acquire Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) for $37 billion in cash and stock.

SNDK closed Monday's trading at $72.00, up $2.03 or 2.9 percent on a volume of 8.58 million shares. In after-hours, the stock gained $5.50 or 7.64 percent to $77.50.

WDC closed Monday's regular trading at $80.48, up $0.96 or 1.2 percent on a volume of 5.73 million shares. However, in after-hours, the stock declined $1.51 or 1.88 percent to $78.97.