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Austin-based Legerity Inc. occupies both the win and the loss columns in the scorecard for the semiconductor downturn.
Legerity's win and loss happened on the same day. The win: a $40 million cash infusion from its majority owner. The loss: 75 employees are being laid off, leaving 300 workers.
San Francisco's Francisco Partners LP pumped the money into the fabless semiconductor company.
Gerald Morgan, chief operating officer of the venture capital firm, says Francisco Partners doesn't comment on its investments. Besides Legerity, portfolio companies include Pocatello, Idaho-based AMI Semiconductor Inc. and Alpharetta, Ga.-based software developer XCelleNet Inc.
Ron Van Dell, president and CEO of Legerity, says the infusion shows investors' confidence in his company.
"I think the investors really wanted to ensure the long-term value of the company - not longterm survival, but real value," Van Dell says. "In that spirit, the $40 million helps us sustain some critical new product initiatives."
Legerity was formed in July 2000...