Avago to buy Broadcom for $37 billion; Deal deemed to be the largest acquisition in technology this year

Avago Technologies Ltd is set to buy Broadcom Corp for $37 billion in a mega deal that offers Broadcom $17 billion in cash and Avago shares worth $20 billion. The deal which is likely to be made soon will be the largest technology acquisition ever.

After becoming the CEO of Avago nine years ago, Hock Tan has led the small chipmaker through acquisitions, which has made the company worth $36 billion today according to a Bloomberg report.

Even after leading the company through many mergers since becoming the CEO of Avago, Hock Tan remains paranoid about competing offer from rival companies. However, to match his bid would be hard for another company, Tan said.

The purchase of Broadcom by Avago will be the biggest ever buy for the company.

The merger is the latest deal in which a chip-making company is set to be bought and in terms of dollar value this year is the busiest year for such tie-ups, according to Dealogic report writes Wall Street Journal.

These mergers are taking place in the $300 billion industry due to the rise in cost of production and for new products to power Internet-connected gadgets.

The purchase of Broadcom by Avago is second largest deal this year, and the merger will create the world's sixth-largest chipmaker by revenue.

Broadcom connectivity chips are used widely in smartphones made by Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics.

According to Reuters, after the completion of the merger the company will be based in Singapore and will be known as Broadcom. It will be the third-largest U.S. semiconductor maker by revenue, behind Intel Corp and Qualcomm Inc.

Avago's biggest purchase was for chipmaker LSI Corp for $6.6 billion last year. However, Avago's giant merger dwarfed the LSI Corp buy on Thursday.

Avago investor Private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, which holds a board seat, worked closely with the company to help evaluate Broadcom and structure the deal.