Irish tech firm goes global

NEWS Irish chip design firm Parthus is merging with US/Israeli company DPS Group in a move which will see Parthus stock-holders pick up a large tranche of shares. DPS will issue £42m worth of shares from its IP licensing unit Ceva, which will be spun off and joined to the Irish company as ParthusCeva. DPS will maintain a 50.1 per cent stake in the new company. Shares in Parthus opened 10 per cent higher this morning at 48.5p giving it a market valuation of £270m, compared to its £2bn value in September 2000. Parthus this week announced a deal with Samsung for its global positioning system technology, NavStream 3000.