Freescale Semiconductor Inc., the computer chip maker owned by private equity firms led by Blackstone Group LP, will cut jobs and shut some manufacturing operations, including a facility in Sendai.
The company has also proposed closing a plant in Toulouse, France, Freescale said in a statement Thursday. The closures would cost $200 million in severance pay through 2011 and would save $100 million a year, the Texas-based company said.
Freescale is exiting the wireless phone chip business and has sought to restructure loans as the recession reduces demand for cars and consumer electronics, two of the biggest markets for its chips. First-quarter sales declined 40 percent from a year earlier to $840 million, the company said.
Freescale agreed in September 2006 to be purchased by a group including Blackstone, Carlyle Group and TPG Inc. for $17.6 billion. The company was sued last month by senior lenders seeking to rescind a debt-for-loans exchange.