Codasip invites potential acquirers to show themselves

Codasip formerly had Rupert Baines, current chairman of Cambridge Tech Week, as its Chief Marketing Officer and member of its management supervisory board and opened a design facility in 2021 in Regent Street.

The decision to seek suitable acquirers appears to have been initiated by an expression of interest to buy the business expressed during a recent funding round. Codasip clearly wants to have control over who it sells its technological and cash riches to.

Codasip is a European RISC-V leader and has unveiled an accelerated process to sell the company. Codasip has been awarded several grants and equity funding from various bodies of the European Union and national authorities totalling over €119 million, most of which is still to be received by the company in due course.

The company estimates that the follow-on phases of the grants will total a further €210 million for a total of €329m, and it is part of new consortiums and projects that can bring in an additional €51m or more in future financing.

With these substantial funds that are transferable to a buyer under reasonable terms, Codasip has received early interest in being acquired, which has triggered the board to initiate an expedited sale process. The process is officially being launched today and is planned to complete within the next three months. The board will consider offers to acquire the company in total, or portions of the company.

Codasip has four key product areas with separable R & D teams:-

• Studio™, an electronic design automation (EDA) tool for developing and customising processors.

• A portfolio of standard application and embedded RISC-V processors developed with Studio but also available in industry standard RTL and all available in Automotive grade (Safe and Secure as defined by ISO26262 and ISO/SAE 2143). Each of these processors can be customised with Studio. This portfolio is largely complete and therefore associated with a smaller portion of the EU financing.

• A portfolio of application and embedded RISC-V processors and complementary software based on CHERI (Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions), a cybersecurity standard that addresses memory safety violations which account for 70 per cent or more of CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures). This portfolio is largely complete and therefore associated with a smaller portion of the EU financing.

• A portfolio of high-performance application processors that are being developed and benefit from the bulk of the EU financing.

The company has a staff of around 250, of which 57 per cent are hardware engineers and 30 per cent software engineers. The company has invested heavily to create what it believes to be a leading RISC-V processor development capability with all its R & D in Europe.

As a licensing company, its products are highly configurable and customisable, making them and the team ideal for acquisition either from another licensing company or by a company that wants the skillset only for internal use.

The sale process is designed to be entirely transparent. Potential buyers signing a standard confidentiality agreement will receive access to a virtual data room for due diligence, a process letter, and be offered meetings with senior management. All offers, be they for a share purchase or asset deal, for all or part(s) of the company, will be considered.