Garmin Abandons Bid for Tele Atlas
By DONNA KARDOS
November 16, 2007 8:58 a.m.
Garmin Ltd. dropped its bid for Tele Atlas NV, stepping down from its battle with rival TomTom NV for the digital-map provider.
Garmin, the largest U.S. maker of portable GPS devices, had been in a bidding war over Tele Atlas with Amsterdam-based TomTom.
TomTom launched its $2.8 billion bid for Tele Atlas this summer. Garmin then put in a $3.3 billion bid for Tele Atlas, prompting TomTom to sweeten its offer to $4.2 billion, or about $43.63 a share. Tele Atlas said it would support that offer.
In dropping its pursuit of Tele Atlas, Garmin Friday extended its six-year agreement with Chicago-based Navteq Corp., another provider of digital-map data. The deal allows Garmin to use Navteq data through 2015, with an option to renew for an additional four-year period.
"Extending our agreement with Navteq ensures the availability of quality mapping data for our customers, and provides a basis for enhanced cooperation which is a win-win for both Garmin and Navteq," Garmin CEO Min Kao said. "We believe the outcome creates the best value for Garmin, our customers and stakeholders."
Tele Atlas's apparent value increased sharply last month when Nokia Corp. announced an $8.1 billion bid for Navteq. In making its bid for Tele Atlas, Garmin said it felt forced to challenge TomTom's bid to ensure that Navteq and Tele Atlas don't both fall into competitors' hands.