Cadence to Enhance High-Level Synthesis Offering with Acquisition of Forte Design Systems

SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDNS), a leader in global electronic design innovation, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Forte Design Systems, a provider of SystemC-based high-level synthesis (HLS) and arithmetic IP.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140102/SF39436LOGO)

Driven by increasing IP complexity and the need for rapid retargeting of IP to derivative architectures, the high-level synthesis market segment has grown beyond early adopters toward mainstream adoption, as design teams migrate from hand-coded RTL design to SystemC-based design and verification. The addition of Forte's synthesis and IP products to the Cadence C-to-Silicon Compiler offering will enable Cadence to further drive a SystemC standard flow for design and multi-language verification.

"Growth in the high-level synthesis market segment is accelerating," said Charlie Huang, senior vice president of the System & Verification Group and Worldwide Field Operations at Cadence.  "HLS tools are now addressing a broader application space and producing equal or better quality of results than hand-coded RTL, fueling worldwide adoption and production deployment amongst leading companies. We look forward to welcoming Forte's technology and skilled team to Cadence to help address this opportunity."

Forte brings high quality of results (QoR) for datapath-centric designs, world-class arithmetic IP, valuable SystemC IP and IP development tools. Forte's Cynthesizer HLS product features strong support for memory scheduling, especially for highly parallel or pipelined designs. These strengths complement the high QoR for transaction-level modeling, under-the-hood RTL synthesis and incremental ECO support featured by Cadence C-to-Silicon Compiler.

"Cadence and Forte have compatible approaches to high-level synthesis, and a similar vision to enable migration of design to the system level," said Sean Dart, CEO of Forte. "The combination will benefit customers through a standardized system-level flow, improved product capabilities for both customer bases, and integration all the way to silicon."

The acquisition is expected to close within 30 days. Taking into account the effects of merger accounting, the transaction is expected to be slightly accretive to Cadence's 2014 results of operations and accretive in 2015 and beyond. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

About Cadence
Cadence enables global electronic design innovation and plays an essential role in the creation of today's integrated circuits and electronics. Customers use Cadence software, hardware, IP, and services to design and verify advanced semiconductors, consumer electronics, networking and telecommunications equipment, and computer systems. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with sales offices, design centers, and research facilities around the world to serve the global electronics industry. More information about the company, its products, and services is available at www.cadence.com.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including statements above regarding Cadence's expected benefits of the pending acquisition of Forte, when Cadence expects to complete the transaction, and the impact of the transaction to Forte, Cadence's 2014 results of operations and the global high-level synthesis market that are based on current expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of preliminary assumptions about future events that are subject to factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside Cadence's control, including, among others: (i) failure or inability to consummate the acquisition, effects of the acquisition on Cadence's financial results, the effect of regulatory approval requirements, the potential inability to successfully operate or integrate Forte's business, including the potential inability to retain customers, key employees or vendors; (ii) the effect of the announcement of the acquisition on Cadence's and Forte's respective businesses, including the possibility that the announcement may result in delays in customers' purchases of products or services; (iii) Cadence's ability to compete successfully in the electronic design automation product and the commercial electronic design and methodology services industries; (iv) the success of Cadence's efforts to improve operational efficiency and growth; (v) the mix of products and services sold and the timing of significant orders for Cadence's products; (vi) change in customer demands, including those resulting from consolidation among Cadence's customers and the possibility that the restructurings and other efforts to improve operational efficiency of Cadence's customers could result in delays in purchases of Cadence's products and services; (vii) economic and industry conditions in regions in which Cadence does business; (viii) fluctuations in rates of exchange between the U.S. dollar and the currencies of other countries in which Cadence and Forte do business; (ix) capital expenditure requirements, legislative or regulatory requirements, interest rates and Cadence's ability to access capital and debt markets; (x) the acquisition of other companies or technologies or the failure to successfully integrate and operate these companies or technologies Cadence acquires, including the potential inability to retain customers, key employees or vendors; (xi) the effects of Cadence's efforts to improve operational efficiency on Cadence's business, including its strategic and customer relationships, and its ability to retain key employees; (xii) events that affect the reserves or settlement assumptions Cadence may take from time to time with respect to accounts receivable, taxes, litigation or other matters; and (xiii) the effects of any litigation or other proceedings to which Cadence is or may become a party.

For a detailed discussion of these and other cautionary statements related to Cadence's business, please refer to Cadence's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These include Cadence's most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, including Cadence's future filings.

SOURCE Cadence Design Systems, Inc.