DLA Piper has advised Navitas Semiconductor Limited on its merger with the NYSE-listed, special-purpose acquisition company Live Oak Acquisition Corp II.

The transaction, which values the combined entity at an enterprise value of US$1.04 billion, will result in Navitas becoming a publicly traded company on a national exchange under a new ticker symbol.

Navitas Semiconductor is focused on gallium nitride (GaN), a next-generation semiconductor technology that runs up to 20 times faster than legacy silicon, and enables up to three times more power and three times faster charging in half the size and weight.

Circuits

As of 1 April, over 18 million Navitas GaNFast power integrated circuits (ICs) had been shipped to customers including Dell, Lenovo, Xiaomi, OPPO, Amazon and Belkin, with no reported field failures.

The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the boards of Live Oak II and Navitas, is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021, subject to approval by the Navitas shareholders.

DLA Piper acted as global legal counsel to Navitas, with a team led out of the firm’s Dublin office by partner and head of tax in Ireland, Maura Dineen, alongside tax associate Patrick O’Donovan, corporate partner Matthew Cole, legal director Micheál Mulvey and associate, Dara McDonald.

Maura Dineen commented: “This is a landmark deal for Navitas, a company that was formed with the vision to revolutionize the world of power electronics, while addressing significant sustainability challenges for our planet. We are proud to have helped them to enter the public capital markets, and look forward to seeing them go from strength to strength.”