(Bloomberg) -- Semiconductor maker Renesas Electronics Corp. agreed to buy software firm Altium Ltd. for A$9.1 billion ($5.9 billion), the biggest acquisition yet of an Australian-listed company by a Japanese buyer.

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Renesas will acquire shares of Altium, listed in Sydney but based in San Diego, for a cash price of A$68.50 each, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement Thursday. The deal, to be financed by bank loans and cash, represents a 33.6% premium to Altium’s closing price on Wednesday.

Shares in Altium soared as much as 31% in Sydney on Thursday morning. Renesas dropped as much as 4.9% in Tokyo.

Renesas is a major supplier of automotive and power semiconductors with close ties to Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co., but has been pushing into more lucrative embedded processors. The company, which acquired UK-based Dialog Semiconductor Plc for $6 billion in 2021, has been looking to expand into software services as demand rises for support in integrating semiconductors into increasingly complex products.

“As technology advances, the design and integration of electronic systems is becoming increasingly complex,” the statement said on Thursday. “Renesas and Altium, under a shared vision, aim to build an integrated and open electronics system design and life cycle management platform.”

Shares in Altium, whose software is used by the likes of Bang & Olufsen and Leica Geosystems AG to design printed circuit boards for devices, soared after it rejected a nearly $4 billion takeover offer from Canadian company Autodesk in July 2021. Altium said the bid was too low given the company’s growth prospects, particularly since its transition to cloud software.



“I strongly believe that electronics is the single most critical industry to building a smart and sustainable world,” Altium CEO Aram Mirkazemi said in the statement. “Renesas’ visionary leadership and commitment to making electronics accessible to all resonates strongly with Altium.”

Altium is being advised by JPMorgan Chase & Co., with King & Wood Mallesons and Reed Smith LLP as legal advisers.

(Updates with share price reaction in 3rd paragraph)

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