Synopsys, a company working on software and IP for semiconductor design and manufacturing, announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Synplicity, a supplier of field programmable gate array and IC design and verification solutions.

In addition to Synplicity's solutions for FPGAs, Synopsys will gain a rapid prototyping portfolio that complements its virtual prototyping business. Under the terms of the agreement, Synopsys will pay $8 cash per Synplicity share, resulting in a gross transaction of approximately $227 million, and approximately $188 million net of cash acquired. The transaction is subject to regulatory and Synplicity shareholder approval, as well as other customary closing conditions, and is expected to close in the second calendar quarter of 2008. After the closing, Synplicity will become part of Synopsys and Synplicity stock will cease trading.