The world's largest chip company Intel Corp., through its Intel Capital arm, has reduced its holding in processor intellectual property licensor Imagination Technologies Group plc (Kings Langley, England).
Intel has licensed graphics cores from Imagination for many years and helped support Imagination in 2009 by injecting capital in return for buying 25 million shares in the company. Apple, another Imagination graphics.
On June 27, Imagination made a London Stock Exchange regulatory disclosure that Intel had sold 25 million shares reducing its holding in the company from 14.3 percent to 5 percent. Intel Capital sold the shares at 205 pence each and raised £51.3 million (about $88 million). Reportedly Intel Capital said in a regulatory filing "Intel Corporation continues to have a business relationship with the company, having licensed several generations of Imagination Technologies' graphics and video processing cores."
Since the Intel bail out, Imagination has increased sales and profits and acquired processor IP company MIPS Technologies Inc. early in 2013. This has brought Imagination into a limited degree of competition against Intel, which is pitching its Intel Atom processor for mobile and wearable applications.
Apple remains a significant shareholder in Imagination with an 8.6 percent stake according to reports.
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