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Filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(3)
and Rule 424(b)(7)
Registration No. 333-168621

 

The information in this preliminary prospectus supplement is not complete and may be changed. This preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus are not an offer to sell these securities and we are not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

 

Subject to Completion, Dated December 6, 2012

PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT

(To Prospectus dated August 6, 2010)

21,490,022 Shares

 

Ordinary Shares

The selling shareholders identified in this prospectus supplement, including entities affiliated with certain directors of our company, and our President and Chief Executive Officer, are offering all of the ordinary shares offered hereby and will receive all of the proceeds from this offering. See “Selling Shareholders.”

Our ordinary shares are listed on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “AVGO.” On December 5, 2012, the closing price of our ordinary shares as reported on The Nasdaq Global Select Market was $34.53.

See “Risk Factors” on page S-5 of this prospectus supplement to read about factors you should consider before buying our ordinary shares.

 

 

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities nor passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of the disclosures in the prospectus supplement. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

 

The underwriter has agreed to purchase the ordinary shares from the selling shareholders at a price of $         per share, which will result in $         of gross proceeds to the selling shareholders. The underwriter may offer the ordinary shares in transactions on The Nasdaq Global Select Market, in the over-the-counter market or through negotiated transactions at market prices or at negotiated prices. See “Underwriting.”

The underwriter expects to deliver the ordinary shares against payment on or about December     , 2012.

 

Citigroup

The date of this prospectus supplement is December     , 2012

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prospectus Supplement

 

		Page
ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT			S-iii
SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS			S-iii
ENFORCEMENT OF CIVIL LIABILITIES UNDER UNITED STATES FEDERAL SECURITIES LAWS			S-v
PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT SUMMARY			S-1
RISK FACTORS			S-5
USE OF PROCEEDS			S-26
PRICE RANGE OF ORDINARY SHARES			S-26
DIVIDEND POLICY			S-26
SELLING SHAREHOLDERS			S-28
TAX CONSIDERATIONS			S-31
UNDERWRITING			S-37
LEGAL MATTERS			S-43
EXPERTS			S-43
WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION			S-43
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE			S-44

Prospectus

 

ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS			ii
RISK FACTORS			1
WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION			1
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE			1
SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS			2
ENFORCEMENT OF CIVIL LIABILITIES UNDER UNITED STATES FEDERAL SECURITIES LAWS			4
OUR COMPANY			5
RATIO OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES			6
USE OF PROCEEDS			6
DESCRIPTION OF SHARE CAPITAL			6
COMPARISON OF SHAREHOLDER RIGHTS			15
DESCRIPTION OF DEBT SECURITIES			26
DESCRIPTION OF WARRANTS			33
DESCRIPTION OF RIGHTS			36
DESCRIPTION OF PURCHASE CONTRACTS			37
DESCRIPTION OF UNITS			38
GLOBAL SECURITIES			39
SELLING SECURITYHOLDERS			41
PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION			41
LEGAL MATTERS			43
EXPERTS			43

 

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You should rely only on the information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. Neither we, the selling shareholders nor the underwriter has authorized anyone to provide you with information different from that contained in, or incorporated by reference into, this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. The selling shareholders are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, ordinary shares only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. The information contained in, or incorporated by reference into, this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus is accurate only as of the date on the front cover of this prospectus supplement, or other date stated in this prospectus supplement, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus or of any sale of our ordinary shares.

For investors outside the United States:    Neither we, the selling shareholders nor the underwriter has done anything that would permit this offering or possession or distribution of this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than in the United States. You are required to inform yourselves about and to observe any restrictions relating to this offering and the distribution of this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus.

 

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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT

This document is in two parts. The first part is this prospectus supplement, which describes the specific terms of this offering. The second part, the base prospectus, gives more general information, some of which may not apply to this offering. You should read both this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, together with the additional information described under the headings “Where You Can Find More Information” and “Incorporation by Reference.”

If the description of this offering varies between this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, you should rely on the information in this prospectus supplement.

Our website address is www.avagotech.com. Information contained on our website does not constitute part of this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus.

Neither this prospectus supplement nor the accompanying prospectus has been, and neither will be, registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, this prospectus supplement and any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for the subscription or purchase, of any of the securities registered hereby may not be circulated or distributed, nor may any of the securities registered hereby be offered or sold, or be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, whether directly or indirectly, to persons in Singapore, other than pursuant to, and in accordance with, the conditions of applicable provisions of the Securities and Futures Act (Chapter 289) of Singapore. See “Underwriting — Selling Restrictions — Singapore.”

As used in this prospectus supplement, “Avago,” “the Company,” “we,” “our” or “us” refer to Avago Technologies Limited and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis, unless otherwise indicated.

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus and documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are indicated by words or phrases such as “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “seek,” “plan,” “believe,” “could,” “intend,” “will,” and similar words or phrases. All statements other than statements of historical fact could be deemed forward-looking, including, but not limited to, any projections of financial information; statements about historical results that may suggest trends for our business; statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; statements of expectation or belief regarding future events, technology developments, our products, product sales, expenses, liquidity, cash flow and growth rates, or enforceability of our intellectual property rights; and the effects of seasonality on our business. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections of our or industry performance based on management’s judgment, beliefs, current trends and market conditions and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. We derive most of our forward-looking statements from our operating budgets and forecasts, which are based upon many detailed assumptions. While we believe that our assumptions are reasonable, we caution that it is very difficult to predict the impact of known factors, and it is impossible for us to anticipate all factors that could affect our actual results. Accordingly, we caution you not to place undue reliance on these statements. Important factors that could affect our future results and cause them to differ materially from our expectations are disclosed under “Risk Factors” elsewhere in this prospectus supplement, or incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement, including, without limitation, in conjunction with the forward-looking statements included in this prospectus supplement. These factors include:

 

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global economic conditions and concerns;

 

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cyclicality in the semiconductor industry or in our target markets;

 

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quarterly and annual fluctuations in operating results;

 

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demands or loss of our significant customers;

 

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increased dependence on the volatile, wireless handset market;

 

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our competitive performance and ability to continue achieving design wins with our customers and the timing of those design wins;

 

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our dependence on contract manufacturing and outsourced supply chain, including single source suppliers, and our ability to improve our cost structure through our manufacturing outsourcing program;

 

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prolonged disruptions of our or our contract manufacturers’ manufacturing facilities or other significant operations, for example due to natural disasters;

 

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our increased dependence on outsourced service providers for certain key business services and their ability to execute to our requirements;

 

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our ability to maintain gross margin;

 

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our ability to maintain tax concessions in certain jurisdictions;

 

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our ability to protect our intellectual property, defend against third party intellectual property claims and any associated increases in litigation expenses;

 

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dependence on and risks associated with distributors of our products;

 

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any expenses or reputational damage associated with resolving customer product warranty and indemnification claims;

 

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our ability to achieve the growth prospects and synergies expected from our acquisitions, and delays, challenges and expenses associated with integrating acquired companies with our existing businesses; and

 

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other events and trends on a national, regional and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive and regulatory nature.

All of our forward-looking statements, including those included and incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus are qualified in their entirety by reference to the factors listed above and those discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in this prospectus supplement.

We caution you that the foregoing list of important factors may not contain all of the material factors that are important to you. In addition, in light of these risks and uncertainties, the matters referred to in the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus supplement may not in fact occur. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law.

You should carefully read this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference in their entirety. They contain information that you should consider when making your investment decision.

 

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ENFORCEMENT OF CIVIL LIABILITIES UNDER UNITED STATES FEDERAL SECURITIES LAWS

We are incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Singapore, and certain of our officers and directors are residents outside the United States. Moreover, a majority of our consolidated assets are located outside the United States. Although we are incorporated outside the United States, we have agreed to accept service of process in the United States through our agent designated for that purpose. Nevertheless, since a majority of the consolidated assets owned by us are located outside the United States, any judgment obtained in the United States against us may not be collectible within the United States. There is no treaty between the United States and Singapore providing for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters and a final judgment for the payment of money rendered by any federal or state court in the United States based on civil liability, whether or not predicated solely upon the federal securities laws, would, therefore, not be automatically enforceable in Singapore. There is doubt whether a Singapore court may impose civil liability on us or our directors and officers who reside in Singapore in a suit brought in the Singapore courts against us or such persons with respect to a violation solely of the federal securities laws of the United States, unless the facts surrounding such a violation would constitute or give rise to a cause of action under Singapore law. Consequently, it may be difficult for investors to enforce against us, our directors or our officers in Singapore judgments obtained in the United States which are predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States.

 

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RISK FACTORS

Investing in our ordinary shares involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as the other information included or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus before making an investment decision. Our business, operations and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described below, that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, and the trading price of our ordinary shares. The following important factors, among others, could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements made by us or on our behalf in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, press releases, communications with investors and oral statements.

Risks Related to Our Business

Adverse global economic conditions could have a negative effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition and liquidity.

Adverse global economic conditions have from time to time caused or exacerbated significant slowdowns in the semiconductor industry generally, as well as in our target markets. The global recession in 2008 and 2009 caused U.S. and foreign businesses to slow spending on our products and caused consumers to reduce spending on many products our customers make, such as personal computers, mobile phone and flat screen televisions. Recently, market and business conditions in general have been adversely affected by investor and customer concerns about the global economic outlook, including concerns about the economic recovery in the United States and the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in Europe. U.S. and global economic conditions could be exacerbated by the negative effects on economic growth resulting from the combination of federal income tax increases and government spending restrictions potentially occurring at the end of calendar year 2012 in the United States (commonly referred to as the “fiscal cliff”). A slowdown in the economic recovery or worsening global economic conditions as a result of these or other factors will likely cause our customers and consumers to reduce or delay spending, and could lead to the insolvency of key suppliers (resulting in product delays) and customers, all of which could negatively affect our business, financial condition and result of operations.

We operate in the highly cyclical semiconductor industry, which is subject to significant downturns.

The semiconductor industry is highly cyclical and is characterized by constant and rapid technological change and price erosion, evolving technical standards, frequent new product introductions, short product life cycles (for semiconductors and for the end-user products in which they are used) and wide fluctuations in product supply and demand. From time to time, these and other factors, together with changes in general economic conditions, cause significant upturns and downturns in the industry in general and in our business in particular. Periods of industry downturns have been characterized by diminished demand for end-user products, high inventory levels and periods of inventory adjustment, under-utilization of manufacturing capacity, changes in revenue mix and accelerated erosion of average selling prices, resulting in an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We expect our business to continue to be subject to cyclical downturns even when overall economic conditions are relatively stable. In addition, in any future economic downturn we may be unable to grow our revenues or reduce our costs quickly enough to maintain our operating profitability.

Our operating results are subject to substantial quarterly and annual fluctuations.

Our revenues and operating results have fluctuated in the past and are likely to fluctuate in the future. These fluctuations may occur on a quarterly and annual basis and are due to a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control. These factors include, among others:

 

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changes in end-user demand for the products manufactured and sold by our customers;

 

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the timing of receipt, reduction or cancellation of significant orders by customers;

 

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fluctuations in the levels of component inventories held by our customers;

 

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customer concentration and the gain or loss of significant customers;

 

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market acceptance of our products and our customers’ products;

 

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changes in our product mix or customer mix and their effect on our gross margin;

 

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our ability to develop, introduce and market new products and technologies on a timely basis;

 

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the timing and extent of our non-product revenue, such as product development revenues and royalty and other payments from intellectual property sales and licensing arrangements;

 

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new product announcements and introductions by us or our competitors;

 

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the timing of the launch by our customers of new products, such as cell phones, in which our products are included;

 

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timing and amount of research and development and related new product expenditures, and the timing of receipt of any research and development grant monies;

 

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seasonality or cyclical fluctuations in our markets;

 

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currency fluctuations;

 

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utilization of our internal manufacturing facilities;

 

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fluctuations in manufacturing yields;

 

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significant warranty claims, including those not covered by our suppliers or our insurers;

 

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availability and cost of raw materials from our suppliers;

 

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intellectual property disputes and associated litigation expenses;

 

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loss of key personnel or the shortage of available skilled workers;

 

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the effects of competitive pricing pressures, including decreases in average selling prices of our products; and

 

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changes in our tax incentive arrangements or structure, which may adversely affect our net tax expense in any quarter in which such an event occurs.

The foregoing factors are difficult to forecast, and these, as well as other factors, could materially adversely affect our quarterly or annual operating results. In addition, a significant amount of our operating expenses are relatively fixed in nature due to our significant sales, research and development and internal manufacturing overhead costs. Any failure to adjust spending quickly enough to compensate for a revenue shortfall could magnify the adverse impact of such revenue shortfall on our results of operations. As a result, we believe that quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our revenue and operating results may not be meaningful or a reliable indicator of our future performance. If our operating results in one or more future quarters fail to meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors, an immediate and significant decline in the trading price of our ordinary shares may occur.

The demands or loss of one or more of our significant customers may adversely affect our business.

Some of our customers are material to our business and results of operations. During fiscal year 2012, Foxconn Technology Group companies together accounted for 17% of our net revenue (22% in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2012) and our top 10 customers, which included three distributors, collectively accounted for 62% of our net revenue. During fiscal year 2011, no direct customer accounted for 10% or more of our net revenue, but our top 10 customers, which included three distributors, collectively accounted for 54% of our net revenue. We also believe that aggregate sales of our products to certain of our customers exceeds the amount of our direct sales to them. For example, we believe our aggregate sales to two OEMs, when direct sales are combined with indirect sales to them through the respective contract manufacturers that they utilize, each accounted for more than 10% of our net revenues, respectively, for fiscal year 2012. This customer concentration increases the risk of quarterly fluctuations in our revenues and operating results. In addition, our top customers’ purchasing power has, in some cases, given them the ability to make greater demands on us with regard to pricing and contractual terms in general. We expect this trend to continue, which may adversely affect our gross margins on certain

 

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products. In addition, we expect this will result in our results of operations becoming increasingly sensitive to deterioration in the financial condition of, or other adverse developments related to, one or more of our significant customers. Although we believe that our relationships with our major customers are good, we generally do not have long-term contracts with any of them, which is typical of our industry. As a result, although our customers provide indications of their product needs and purchases on an annual basis, they generally purchase our products on a weekly or daily basis and the relationship, as well as particular orders, can be terminated at any time. In order to ensure availability of our products for some of our largest customers, we start the manufacturing of our products in advance of receiving purchase orders, based on forecasts provided by these customers. However, these forecasts are not binding purchase commitments and as a result, we incur inventory and manufacturing costs in advance of anticipated sales. Since actual demand for our products may not match these forecasts, manufacturing based on such forecasts subjects us to increased risks of high inventory carrying costs, increased obsolescence and increased operating costs. In addition, the loss of any of our major customers, or any substantial reduction in sales to any of these customers, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are increasingly dependent on the mobile handset market, which is volatile and is characterized by short product life cycles, fluctuations in demand, seasonality and increasingly high customer concentration any of which could negatively impact our business or results of operations.

A substantial and increasing portion of our revenue is generated from sales of products for use in mobile handsets. The mobile handset market is characterized by intense competition among an increasingly concentrated group of OEMs, rapidly evolving technology, and changing consumer preferences. These factors result in the frequent introduction of new products, aggressive price competition, short product life cycles, and continually evolving mobile handset specifications. If we, our customers or mobile handset OEMs are unable to manage product transitions, our business and results of operations could be negatively affected. Our business is also dependent on the broad commercial acceptance of the mobile handsets into which our products are incorporated. If the mobile handsets into which our products are designed do not achieve significant customer acceptance, our revenue will be adversely affected. Similarly, even though we may achieve design wins for a particular handset, we may not be designed into the next generation of a particular handset or new model of handset, which could result in a sharp decrease in our revenues.

In the mobile handset market, demand is typically stronger in the second half of the year than the first half of the year. However, if mobile handset OEMs inaccurately forecast consumer demand, this may lead to significant changes in orders to their component suppliers. We have experienced both increases and decreases in orders within the same quarter and with limited advance notice, and we expect such increases and decreases to occur in the future. In addition, although the worldwide wireless handset market is large, growth trends and other variables are often uncertain and difficult to predict. Since the wireless handset market is a consumer-driven market, changes in the economy that affect consumer demand can adversely affect our business and operating results.

Winning business is subject to lengthy, competitive selection processes that require us to incur significant expense. Even if we begin a product design, a customer may decide to cancel or change its product plans, which could cause us to generate no revenues from a product and adversely affect our results of operations.

We are focused on winning competitive bid selection processes, known as “design wins,” to develop semiconductors for use in our customers’ products. These selection processes are typically lengthy and can require us to incur significant design and development expenditures and dedicate scarce engineering resources in pursuit of a single customer opportunity. We may not win the competitive selection process and may never generate any revenue despite incurring significant design and development expenditures. These risks are exacerbated by the fact that many of our products and the end products into which our products are incorporated often have very short life cycles. For example, cell-phone manufacturers regularly introduce new or upgraded handsets, often every 12 to 18 months and sometimes more frequently, and will bid out the components for each new model, and often every upgrade of a particular model. Failure to obtain a design win sometimes prevents us from offering an entire generation of a product. This can result in lost revenues and could weaken our position in future competitive selection processes.

 

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Winning a product design does not guarantee sales to a customer. We may experience delays in generating revenue from our products as a result of the lengthy development cycle typically required, or may not realize as much revenue as we had anticipated. In addition, a delay or cancellation of a customer’s plans could materially and adversely affect our financial results, as we may have incurred significant expense in the design process and generated little or no revenue. Customers could choose at any time to stop using our products or may fail to successfully market and sell their products, which could reduce demand for our products and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Finally, the timing of design wins is unpredictable and implementing production for a major design win or multiple design wins occurring at or around the same time may strain our resources and those of our contract manufacturers. In such event we may be forced to dedicate significant additional resources and incur additional, unanticipated costs and expenses to fulfill such design wins, which may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

Competition in our industry could prevent us from growing our revenue and from raising prices to offset increases in costs.

The global semiconductor market is highly competitive. We compete in different target markets to various degrees on the basis of, among other things, quality, technical performance, price, product features, product system compatibility, system-level design capability, engineering expertise, responsiveness to customers, new product innovation, product availability, delivery timing and reliability, and customer sales and technical support. Current and prospective customers for our products evaluate our capabilities against the merits of our direct competitors. Some of our competitors are well established, have a more extensive product portfolio, have substantially greater market share and manufacturing, financial, research and development and marketing resources to pursue development, engineering, manufacturing, marketing and distribution of their products. In addition, many of our competitors have longer independent operating histories, greater presence in key markets, more comprehensive patent protection and greater name recognition. We compete with integrated device manufacturers, or IDMs, and fabless semiconductor companies as well as the internal resources of large, integrated OEMs. Our competitors range from large, international companies offering a wide range of semiconductor products to smaller companies specializing in narrow markets. We expect competition in the markets in which we participate to continue to increase as existing competitors improve or expand their product offerings. In addition, companies not currently in direct competition with us may introduce competing products in the future. Because our products are often building block semiconductors providing functions that in some cases can be integrated into more complex integrated circuits, or ICs, we also face competition from manufacturers of ICs, as well as customers that develop their own IC products.

Our ability to compete successfully depends on elements both within and outside of our control, including industry and general economic trends. During past periods of downturns in our industry, competition in the markets in which we operate intensified as manufacturers of semiconductors reduced prices in order to combat production overcapacity and high inventory levels. The actions of our competitors, particularly in the area of pricing, can have a substantial adverse impact on our revenues, and potentially on revenues in specific industry end markets. In periods where the semiconductor industry experiences significant declines, manufacturers in financial difficulties or in bankruptcy may implement pricing structures designed to ensure short-term market share and near-term survival, rather than securing long-term viability. In addition, many of our competitors have substantially greater financial and other resources than us with which to withstand adverse economic or market conditions and any associated pricing actions of other market participants in the future.

Dependence on contract manufacturing and outsourcing other portions of our supply chain may adversely affect our ability to bring products to market and damage our reputation.

We operate a primarily outsourced manufacturing business model that principally utilizes third-party foundry and module assembly and test capabilities. As a result, we are highly reliant on third-party foundry wafer fabrication capacity, including sole- or single-sourcing for many components or products. For certain of our product families, substantially all of our revenue from those products is derived from semiconductors fabricated by external foundries such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. and WIN Semiconductor Corp. Most of our products are designed to be manufactured in a specific process, typically at one particular

 

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foundry with a particular contract manufacturer. We also use third-party contract manufacturers for a significant majority of our assembly and test operations, including Amertron Incorporated, the Hana Microelectronics Public Company Ltd. group of companies and ASE Korea Inc.

The ability and willingness of our contract manufacturers to perform is largely outside of our control. If one or more of our contract manufacturers or other outsourced providers fails to perform its obligations in a timely manner or at satisfactory quality levels, our ability to bring products to market and our reputation could suffer. Suppliers may, for example, extend lead times, limit supplies, increase prices or discontinue parts due to capacity constraints or other factors. In addition, some parts are not readily available from alternate suppliers due to their unique design or the length of time necessary for design work. If one of our suppliers, particularly a sole- or single-source supplier, ceases to, or is unable to, manufacture such a component or supply is otherwise constrained, for example as a result of a natural disaster, it may be difficult for us to transition the manufacture of that product to another foundry or contract manufacturer or source alternative parts, we may be forced to re-engineer a product and we may fail to timely meet customer demand. This could result in the payment of significant damages by us to our customers, and our net revenue could decline. In such events, our business, financial condition and results of operations would be adversely affected. Furthermore, our agreements with these manufacturers typically require us to forecast product needs and our forecasts may not be accurate, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We review our supply chain on an ongoing basis and may seek to qualify second source manufacturers and suppliers for some components and products. Qualifying such second sources may be a lengthy and potentially costly process.

To the extent we rely on third-party manufacturing relationships, we face the following risks:

 

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inability of our manufacturers to develop manufacturing methods appropriate for our products, and manufacturers’ lack of sufficient capacity, or their unwillingness to devote adequate capacity, to produce our products;

 

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product and manufacturing costs that are higher than anticipated;

 

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reduced control over product reliability and delivery schedules;

 

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more complicated supply chains; and

 

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time, expense and uncertainty in identifying and qualifying additional or replacement manufacturers.

Much of our outsourcing takes place in developing countries, and as a result may additionally be subject to geopolitical uncertainty. See “— Our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected by the political and economic conditions of the countries in which we conduct business and other factors related to our international operations.”

A prolonged disruption of our manufacturing facilities or other significant operations could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Although we operate using a primarily outsourced manufacturing business model, we also rely on the manufacturing facilities we own, in particular our fabrication facilities in Fort Collins, Colorado and Singapore. We maintain our internal fabrication facilities for products utilizing our innovative materials and processes, to protect our intellectual property, to develop the technology for manufacturing and to ensure supply of certain components. A prolonged disruption or material malfunction of, interruption in, or the loss of operations at, one or more of our production facilities, especially our Fort Collins and Singapore facilities, or the failure to maintain our labor force at one or more of these facilities, would limit our capacity to meet customer demands and delay new product development until a replacement facility and equipment, if necessary, were found. The replacement of any of our manufacturing facilities could take an extended amount of time and significant expenditures on our part before manufacturing operations could restart. The potential delays and significant costs resulting from these steps, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are also dependent on various information technology systems, including, but not limited to, networks, applications, and outsourced services. We continually enhance and implement new systems and processes

 

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throughout our global operations. Failure of these systems to operate effectively, could disrupt our operations and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations by harming our ability to accurately forecast sales demand, manage our supply chain and production facilities, fulfill customer orders, and report financial and management information on a timely and accurate basis.

If we or our contract manufacturers suffer loss or significant damage to our factories, facilities or distribution system due to catastrophe, our operations could be seriously harmed.

Our factories, facilities and distribution system, and those of our contract manufacturers, are subject to risk of catastrophic loss due to fire, flood, earthquake or other natural or man-made disasters. The majority of our facilities and those of our contract manufacturers are located in the Pacific Rim region, a region with above average seismic and severe weather activity. In addition, our research and development personnel are concentrated in a few locations, primarily Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Fort Collins, Colorado and San Jose, California, with the expertise of the personnel at each such location tending to be focused on one or two specific areas. Any catastrophic natural disaster in those regions or catastrophic loss or significant damage to any of our facilities or those of our contract manufacturers in those regions would likely disrupt our operations, delay production, shipments and revenue. Such events could also result in significant expenses to repair or replace our affected facilities, and in some instances could significantly curtail our research and development efforts in a particular product area or target market. Any catastrophic loss at our Fort Collins, Colorado, San Jose, California, or Singapore facilities would materially and adversely affect our business.

We generally do not have any long-term supply contracts with our contract manufacturers or materials suppliers and may not be able to obtain the products or raw materials required for our business, which could have a material adverse affect on our business.

We either obtain the products we need for our business from third-party contract manufacturers or we obtain the materials we need for our products from suppliers, some of which are our single source suppliers for these materials. We purchase a significant portion of our semiconductor materials and finished goods from a few suppliers and contract manufacturers. For fiscal year 2012, we purchased 54% of the materials for our manufacturing processes from six suppliers. For fiscal year 2011, we purchased 55% of the materials for our manufacturing processes from seven suppliers. Substantially all of our purchases are on a purchase order basis, and we have not generally entered into long-term contracts with our contract manufacturers or suppliers. In the event that these purchase orders or relationships with suppliers are terminated, we cannot obtain sufficient quantities of raw materials at reasonable prices, the quality of the material deteriorates, we fail to satisfy our customers’ requirements or we are not able to pass on higher materials or energy costs to our customers, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely impacted.

Our manufacturing processes rely on many materials, including silicon and GaAs wafers, copper lead frames, precious metals, mold compound, ceramic packages and various chemicals and gases. From time to time, suppliers may extend lead times, limit supplies or increase prices due to commodity price increases, capacity constraints or other factors. Although we believe that our current supplies of materials are adequate, shortages could occur in various essential materials due to interruption of supply or increased demand in the industry.

Failure to adjust our supply chain volume due to changing market or other conditions or failure to accurately estimate our customers’ demand could adversely affect our results of operations.

We make significant decisions, including determining the levels of business that we will seek and accept, production schedules, levels of reliance on contract manufacturing and outsourcing, personnel needs and other resource requirements, based on our estimates of customer requirements. The short-term nature of commitments by many of our customers and the possibility of rapid changes in demand for their products reduces our ability to accurately estimate future customer requirements. Our results of operations could be harmed if we are unable to adjust our supply chain volume to address market fluctuations, including those caused by the seasonal or cyclical nature of the markets in which we operate, or by other unanticipated events such as natural disasters. In addition, the sale of our products is dependent, to a large degree, on customers whose industries are subject to seasonal or

 

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cyclical trends in the demand for their products. For example, the consumer electronics market is particularly volatile and is subject to seasonality related to the holiday selling season, making demand difficult to anticipate.

Severe supply chain disruptions, such as those caused by large scale natural disasters, can adversely affect our, and our customers’, ability to source materials and components needed to manufacture products. In such event, even if we are able to promptly resume production of our affected products, if our customers cannot timely resume their own manufacturing following such an event, they may cancel or scale back their orders from us and this may in turn adversely affect our results of operations.

On occasion, customers may require rapid increases in production, which can challenge our resources and reduce margins. We may not be able to purchase sufficient supplies or components or secure sufficient contract manufacturing capacity, to meet such increases in product demand. This could harm our reputation, prevent us from taking advantage of opportunities, reduce revenue growth and subject us to additional liabilities if we are not able to timely satisfy customer orders.

In order to secure components for the production of our products, we may enter into non-cancelable purchase commitments with vendors or make advance payments to suppliers, which could reduce our ability to adjust our inventory or expense levels to declining market demands. Prior commitments of this type have resulted in an excess of parts when demand for our products has decreased. Downturns in the semiconductor industry have in the past caused, and may in the future cause, our customers to reduce significantly the amount of products ordered from us. If demand for our products is less than we expect, we may experience excess and obsolete inventories and be forced to incur additional charges. Conversely, if OEMs order more of our products in any particular quarter than are ultimately required to satisfy end customer demand, inventories at these OEMs may grow in such quarter, which could adversely affect our product revenues in a subsequent quarter as such OEMs would likely reduce future orders until their inventory levels realign with end customer demand. In addition, because certain of our sales, research and development and internal manufacturing overhead expenses are relatively fixed, a reduction in customer demand may decrease our gross margins and operating income.

Our operating results and financial condition could be harmed if the markets into which we sell our products decline.

Visibility into our markets is limited and any decline in our customers’ markets would likely result in a reduction in demand for our products. In such an environment, pricing pressures could intensify and, if we were unable to respond quickly, could significantly reduce our gross margins. To the extent we cannot offset recessionary periods or periods of reduced growth that may occur in these markets through increased market share or otherwise, our net revenue may decline and our business, financial condition and results of operations may suffer. Pricing pressures and competition are especially intense in semiconductor-related industries, which could prevent achievement of our long-term financial goals and could require us to implement additional cost-cutting measures. Furthermore, industry growth rates may not be as forecasted, which could result in us spending on process and product development well ahead of market requirements, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely on third parties to provide corporate infrastructure services necessary for the operation of our business. Any failure of one or more of our vendors to provide these services could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We rely on third-party vendors to provide critical corporate infrastructure services, including, among other things, certain services related to accounting, billing, human resources, information technology, or IT, network development and network monitoring. We depend on these vendors to ensure that our corporate infrastructure will consistently meet our business requirements. The ability of these third-party vendors to successfully provide reliable, high quality services is subject to technical and operational uncertainties that are beyond our control. While we may be entitled to damages if our vendors fail to perform under their agreements with us, our agreements with these vendors limit the amount of damages we may receive. In addition, we do not know whether we will be able to collect on any award of damages or that any such damages would be sufficient to cover the actual costs we would incur as a result of any vendor’s failure to perform under its agreement with us. Any failure of

 

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our corporate infrastructure could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Upon expiration or termination of any of our agreements with third-party vendors, we may not be able to replace the services provided to us in a timely manner or on terms and conditions, including service levels and cost, that are favorable to us and a transition from one vendor to another vendor could subject us to operational delays and inefficiencies until the transition is complete.

Our gross margin is dependent on a number of factors, including our product mix, customer mix, commodity prices and level of capacity utilization.

Our gross margin is highly dependent on product mix, with proprietary products and products sold into our industrial and automotive target market typically providing higher gross margin than other products. A shift in sales mix away from our higher margin products could adversely affect our future gross margin percentages. In addition, OEMs are becoming increasingly price conscious when they design semiconductors from third party suppliers into their products. This sensitivity, combined with large OEMs’ purchasing power, can lead to intense price competition among competing suppliers, which may require us to decrease our prices in order to win a design with an OEM customer. This can, in turn, adversely affect our gross margin. Our margin may also be affected by fluctuations in commodity prices, either directly in the price of the raw materials we buy, or as a result of prices increases passed on to us by our suppliers. Many commodities prices, including those of gold and fuel, have risen significantly in recent months. We do not hedge our exposure to commodity prices and continued increases in commodities prices may adversely affect our gross margin.

Our gross margin is also affected by the timing and amount of our non-product revenue, including non-refundable payments from customers for research and development projects during product development and intellectual property-related revenue such as licensing royalty payments and revenues from sales of intellectual property. Our non-product revenue is generally high margin, but fluctuates significantly from quarter to quarter.

In addition, semiconductor manufacturing requires significant capital investment, leading to high fixed costs, including depreciation expense. Although we outsource a significant portion of our manufacturing activities, we do retain some semiconductor fabrication facilities. We are making substantial capital investments in our Fort Collins, Colorado manufacturing facility to support anticipated growth in sales of our proprietary products, particularly for our wireless target market, and to leverage our fixed costs. We may not realize the benefit we anticipate from these investments. If we are unable to utilize our owned fabrication facilities at a high level, the fixed costs associated with these facilities, such as depreciation expense, will not be fully absorbed, resulting in higher average unit costs and lower gross margins. In the past, we have experienced periods where our gross margins declined due to, among other things, reduced factory utilization resulting from reduced customer demand, reduced selling prices and a change in product mix towards lower margin devices. Increased competition and the existence of product alternatives, more complex engineering requirements, lower demand and other factors may lead to further price erosion, lower revenues and lower margins for us in the future.

If the tax incentive or tax holiday arrangements we have negotiated in Singapore and other jurisdictions change or cease to be in effect or applicable in part or in whole, for any reason, or if our assumptions and interpretations regarding tax laws and incentive or holiday arrangements prove to be incorrect, the amount of corporate income taxes we have to pay could significantly increase.

We have structured our operations to maximize the benefit from various tax incentives and tax holidays extended to us in various jurisdictions to encourage investment or employment. For example, we have obtained several tax incentives from the Singapore Economic Development Board, an agency of the Government of Singapore, which provide that certain classes of income we earn in Singapore are subject to tax holidays or reduced rates of Singapore income tax. Each such tax incentive is separate and distinct from the others, and may be granted, withheld, extended, modified, truncated, complied with or terminated independently without any effect on the other incentives. In order to retain these tax benefits in Singapore, we must meet certain operating conditions specific to each incentive relating to, among other things, maintenance of a treasury function, a corporate headquarters function, specified intellectual property activities and specified manufacturing activities in Singapore. Some of these operating conditions are subject to phase-in periods through 2015. The Singapore tax incentives are presently scheduled to expire at various dates generally between 2014 and 2025. Absent such tax

 

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incentives, the corporate income tax rate in Singapore that would otherwise apply to us would be 17%. For the fiscal years ended October 28, 2012 and October 30, 2011, the effect of all these tax incentives, in the aggregate, was to reduce the overall provision for income taxes from what it otherwise would have been in such year by approximately $81 million and $82 million, respectively. The tax incentives that we have negotiated in other jurisdictions are also subject to our compliance with various operating and other conditions. If we cannot or elect not to comply with the operating conditions included in any particular tax incentive, we will lose the related tax benefits. In such event, we could be required to refund material tax benefits previously realized by us with respect to that incentive and, depending on the incentive at issue, could likely be required to modify our operational structure and tax strategy. Any such modified structure or strategy may not be as beneficial to us from an income tax expense or operational perspective as the benefits provided under the present tax concession arrangements.

Our interpretations and conclusions regarding the tax incentives are not binding on any taxing authority, and if our assumptions about tax and other laws are incorrect or if these tax incentives are substantially modified or rescinded we could suffer material adverse tax and other financial consequences, which would increase our expenses, reduce our profitability and adversely affect our cash flows. In addition, taxable income in any jurisdiction is dependent upon acceptance of our operational practices and intercompany transfer pricing by local tax authorities as being on an arm’s length basis. Due to inconsistencies in application of the arm’s length standard among taxing authorities, as well as lack of adequate treaty-based protection, transfer pricing challenges by tax authorities could, if successful, substantially increase our income tax expense. We are subject to, and are under, audit in various jurisdictions, and such jurisdictions may assess additional income tax against us. Although we believe our tax positions are reasonable, the final determination of tax audits could be materially different from our recorded income tax provisions and accruals. The ultimate results of an audit could have a material adverse effect on our operating results or cash flows in the period or periods for which that determination is made.

We may be subject to claims of infringement of third-party intellectual property rights or demands that we license third-party technology, which could result in significant expense and loss of our intellectual property rights.

The semiconductor industry is characterized by companies holding large numbers of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets and by the vigorous pursuit, protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, including actions by patent-holding companies that do not make or sell products. From time to time, third parties assert against us and our customers and distributors their patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret and other intellectual property rights to technologies that are important to our business.

Litigation or settlement of claims that our products or processes infringe or misappropriate these rights, regardless of their merit, are frequently costly and divert the efforts and attention of our management and technical personnel. In addition, many of our customer agreements, and in some cases our asset sale agreements, require us to indemnify our customers or purchasers for third-party intellectual property infringement claims, which have required and may in the future require that we defend those claims, and might require that we pay damages in the case of adverse rulings. Claims of this sort could also harm our relationships with our customers and might deter future customers from doing business with us. We do not know whether we will prevail in such proceedings given the complex technical issues and inherent uncertainties in intellectual property litigation. If any pending or future proceedings result in an adverse outcome, we could be required to:

 

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cease the manufacture, use or sale of the infringing products, processes or technology;

 

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pay substantial damages for past, present and future use of the infringing technology;

 

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expend significant resources to develop non-infringing technology;

 

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license technology from the third-party claiming infringement, which license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all;

 

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enter into cross-licenses with our competitors, which could weaken our overall intellectual property portfolio and our ability to compete in particular product categories;

 

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indemnify customers or distributors;

 

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pay substantial damages to our customers or end users to discontinue use or replace infringing technology with non-infringing technology; or

 

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relinquish intellectual property rights associated with one or more of our patent claims, if such claims are held invalid or otherwise unenforceable.

Any of the foregoing results could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We utilize a significant amount of intellectual property in our business. If we are unable or fail to protect our intellectual property, our business could be adversely affected.

Our success depends in part upon protecting our intellectual property. To accomplish this, we rely on a combination of intellectual property rights, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and similar intellectual property, as well as customary contractual protections with our customers, suppliers, employees and consultants. We may be required to spend significant resources to monitor and protect our intellectual property rights, and even with significant expenditures we may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights valuable to our business. We are unable to predict that:

 

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intellectual property rights that we presently employ in our business will not lapse or be invalidated, circumvented, challenged, or, in the case of third-party intellectual property rights, licensed or sub-licensed to us, be licensed to others;

 

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our intellectual property rights will provide competitive advantages to us;

 

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rights previously granted by third parties to intellectual property rights licensed or assigned to us, including portfolio cross-licenses, will not hamper our ability to assert our intellectual property rights against potential competitors or hinder the settlement of currently pending or future disputes;

 

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any of our pending or future patent, trademark or copyright applications will be issued or have the coverage originally sought; or

 

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our intellectual property rights will be enforced in certain jurisdictions where competition may be intense or where legal protection may be weak.

In addition, our competitors or others may develop products or technologies that are similar or superior to our products or technologies, duplicate our products or technologies or design around our protected technologies. Effective patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret protection may be unavailable or more limited in one or more relevant jurisdictions, relative to those protections available in the United States, may not be applied for or may be abandoned in one or more relevant jurisdictions. We may elect to abandon or divest patents or otherwise not pursue prosecution of certain pending patent applications due to strategic concerns or other factors. In addition, when patents expire, we lose the protection and competitive advantages they provided to us. From time to time we pursue litigation to assert our intellectual property rights, including, in some cases, against third parties with whom we have ongoing relationships, such as customers and suppliers, and third parties may pursue litigation against us. An adverse decision in such types of legal action could limit our ability to assert our intellectual property rights and limit the value of our technology, including the loss of opportunities to sell or license our technology to others or to collect royalty payments based upon successful protection and assertion of our intellectual property against others. In addition, such legal actions or adverse decisions could otherwise negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

From time to time we may need to obtain additional intellectual property licenses or renew existing license agreements. We are unable to predict whether these license agreements can be obtained or renewed on acceptable terms or at all.

 

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We are subject to risks associated with our distributors’ product inventories and product sell-through.

We sell many of our products to customers through distributors who maintain their own inventory of our products for sale to dealers and end users. We limit distributor return rights and we allow limited price adjustments on sales to distributors. Price adjustments may be effected by way of credits for future product or by cash payments to the distributor either in arrears or in advance based on estimates. We record reserves for distributor rights related to these limited stock returns and price adjustments. We recognize revenues for sales to distributors upon delivery to the distributors, net of estimated provisions for these stock return and price adjustment programs. We have recently extended these programs with certain distributors in China and intend to extend them on a selective basis to some of our other distributors in other geographies. The reserves recorded for these programs are based on significant judgments and estimates, using historical experience rates, inventory levels in distribution, current trends and other factors, and there could be significant differences between actual amounts and our estimates. In addition, the timing and mix of payments and credits associated with such price adjustments could change over time, which could adversely affect our cash flows. Sales to distributors accounted for 32% and 37% of our net revenue for fiscal year 2012 and fiscal year 2011, respectively.

If our distributors are unable to sell an adequate amount of their inventory of our products in a given quarter to dealers and end users or if they decide to decrease their inventories for any reason, such as due to adverse global economic conditions or due to any downturn in technology spending, our sales to these distributors and our revenues may decline. We also face the risk that our distributors may purchase, or for other reasons accumulate, inventory levels of our products in any particular quarter in excess of future anticipated sales to end-customers. If such sales do not occur in the time frame anticipated by these distributors for any reason, these distributors may substantially decrease the amount of product they order from us in subsequent periods until their inventory levels realign with end customer demand, which would harm our business and could adversely affect our product revenues in such subsequent periods.

Our reserve estimates associated with products stocked by our distributors are based largely on reports that our distributors provide to us on a monthly basis. To date, we believe this data has been generally accurate. To the extent that this resale and channel inventory data is inaccurate or not received in a timely manner, we may not be able to make reserve estimates for future periods accurately or at all.

Unless we and our suppliers continuously improve manufacturing efficiency and quality, our financial performance could be adversely affected.

Manufacturing semiconductors involves highly complex processes that require advanced equipment. We and our suppliers, as well as our competitors, continuously modify these processes in an effort to improve yields and product performance. Defects or other difficulties in the manufacturing process can reduce yields and increase costs. Our manufacturing efficiency will be an important factor in our future financial performance, and we may be unable to maintain or increase our manufacturing efficiency to the same extent as our competitors. For products that we outsource manufacturing, our product yields and performance will be subject to the manufacturing efficiencies of our third-party suppliers.

From time to time, we and our suppliers have experienced difficulty in beginning production at new facilities, transferring production to other facilities, achieving and maintaining a high level of process quality and effecting transitions to new manufacturing processes, all of which have caused us to suffer delays in product deliveries or reduced yields. We and our suppliers may experience manufacturing problems in achieving acceptable yields or experience product delivery delays in the future as a result of, among other things, capacity constraints, construction delays, transferring production to other facilities, upgrading or expanding existing facilities, including our Fort Collins facility, or changing our process technologies, any of which could result in a loss of future revenues. Our results of operations could be adversely affected by any increase in costs related to increases in production capacity if revenues do not increase proportionately.

 

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The enactment of legislation implementing changes in U.S. taxation of international business activities or the adoption of other tax reform policies could materially impact our financial position and results of operations.

Tax bills are introduced from time to time to reform U.S. taxation of international business activities. Depending on the final form of legislation enacted, if any, these consequences may be significant for us due to the large scale of our international business activities. If any of these proposals are enacted into legislation, they could have material adverse consequences on the amount of tax we pay and thereby on our financial position and results of operations.

We make substantial investments in research and development to improve existing and develop new technologies to remain competitive in our business and unsuccessful investments could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The semiconductor industry requires substantial investment in research and development in order to develop and bring to market new and enhanced technologies and products. In order to remain competitive, we have made significant investments in research and development and anticipate that we will need to maintain or increase our levels of research and development expenditures. We expect research and development expenses to increase in absolute dollars for the foreseeable future, due to the increasing complexity and number of products we plan to develop. The technologies where we have focused or may focus our research and development expenditures may not become commercially successful. Significant investments in unsuccessful research and development efforts could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, increased investments in research and development could cause our cost structure to fall out of alignment with demand for our products, which would have a negative impact on our financial results.

Our business would be adversely affected by the departure of existing members of our senior management team or if our senior management team is unable to effectively implement our strategy.

Our success depends, in large part, on the continued contributions of our senior management team, in particular, the services of Mr. Hock E. Tan, our President and Chief Executive Officer. None of our senior management is bound by written employment contracts to remain with us for a specified period. In addition, we do not currently maintain key person life insurance covering our senior management. The loss of any of our senior management could harm our ability to implement our business strategy and respond to the rapidly changing market conditions in which we operate.

If we are unable to attract, train and retain qualified personnel, especially our design and technical personnel, we may not be able to execute our business strategy effectively.

Our future success depends on our ability to retain, attract and motivate qualified personnel, including our management, sales and marketing, legal and finance, and especially our design and technical personnel. We do not know whether we will be able to retain all of these employees as we continue to pursue our business strategy. We have historically encountered difficulties in hiring and retaining qualified engineers because there is a limited pool of engineers with expertise in analog and optoelectronic semiconductor design. Competition for such personnel is intense in the semiconductor industry, particularly in Southeast Asia where qualified engineers are currently in high demand. As the source of our technological and product innovations, our design and technical personnel represent a significant asset. The loss of the services of key employees, especially our key design and technical personnel, or our inability to retain, attract and motivate qualified design and technical personnel, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are subject to warranty claims, product recalls and product liability.

We are currently, and from time to time may be, subject to warranty or product liability claims that have lead, and may in the future lead, to significant expenses as we compensate affected customers for costs incurred related to product quality issues. Although we maintain reserves for reasonably estimable liabilities and purchase product liability insurance, our reserves may be inadequate to cover the uninsured portion of such claims. Conversely, in

 

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some cases, amounts we reserve may ultimately exceed our actual liability for particular claims and may need to be reversed. For example, in the second quarter of fiscal year 2009 we identified a product quality issue with a particular component that we took steps to correct, including notifying our customers, offering to replace such components and provide customers with appropriate financial compensation. Through fiscal year 2012, we had recorded an aggregate of $10 million in charges (including reversals of warranty accrual of $1 million and $6 million in the years ended October 28, 2012 and October 30, 2011, respectively) associated with this issue.

Although we maintain product liability insurance, such insurance is subject to significant deductibles and there is no guarantee that such insurance will be available or adequate to protect against all such claims, or we may elect to self-insure with respect to certain matters. We may incur costs and expenses in the event of any recall of a customer’s product containing one of our devices. The process of identifying a recalled product in devices that have been widely distributed may be lengthy and require significant resources, and we may incur significant replacement costs, contract damage claims from our customers and reputational harm. Our customer contracts typically contain warranty and indemnification provisions, and in certain cases may also contain liquidated damages provisions, relating to product quality issues. The potential liabilities associated with such provisions are significant, and in some cases, including in agreements with some of our largest customers, are potentially unlimited. Any such liabilities may greatly exceed any revenues we receive from the relevant products. Costs, payments or damages incurred or paid by us in connection with warranty and product liability claims and product recalls could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

The complexity of our products could result in unforeseen delays or expenses or undetected defects or bugs, which could adversely affect the market acceptance of new products, damage our reputation with current or prospective customers, and materially and adversely affect our operating costs.

Highly complex products such as the products that we offer, may contain defects and bugs when they are first introduced or as new versions are released, or their release may be delayed due to unforeseen difficulties during product development. We have in the past experienced, and may in the future experience, these defects, bugs and delays. If any of our products contain defects or bugs, or have reliability, quality or compatibility problems, we may not be able to successfully design workarounds. Consequently, our reputation may be damaged and customers may be reluctant to buy our products, which could materially and adversely affect our ability to retain existing customers, attract new customers, and our financial results. In addition, these defects or bugs could interrupt or delay sales to our customers. To resolve these problems, we may have to invest significant capital and other resources. Although our products are tested by our suppliers, our customers and ourselves, it is possible that our new products will contain defects or bugs. If any of these problems are not found until after we have commenced commercial production of a new product, we may be required to incur additional development costs and product recall, repair or replacement costs. These problems may also result in claims against us by our customers or others. For example, if a delay in the manufacture and delivery of our products causes the delay of a customer’s product delivery, we may be required, under the terms of our agreement with that customer, to compensate the customer for the adverse effects of such delays. In addition, these problems may divert our technical and other resources from other development efforts, and we would likely lose, or experience a delay in, market acceptance of the affected product or products, and we could lose credibility with our current and prospective customers. As a result, our financial results could be materially and adversely affected.

Our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected by the political and economic conditions of the countries in which we conduct business and other factors related to our international operations.

We sell our products throughout the world. In addition, as at October 28, 2012, approximately 64% of our employees are located outside of the United States. Multiple factors relating to our international operations and to particular countries in which we operate could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. These factors include:

 

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changes in political, regulatory, legal or economic conditions;

 

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restrictive governmental actions, such as restrictions on the transfer or repatriation of funds and foreign investments and trade protection measures, including export duties and quotas and customs duties and tariffs;

 

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disruptions of capital and trading markets;

 

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changes in import or export licensing requirements;

 

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transportation delays;

 

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civil disturbances or political instability;

 

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geopolitical turmoil, including terrorism, war or political or military coups;

 

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changes in labor standards;

 

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limitations on our ability under local laws to protect our intellectual property;

 

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nationalization of businesses and expropriation of assets;

 

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changes in tax laws;

 

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currency fluctuations, which may result in our products becoming too expensive for foreign customers or foreign-sourced materials and services becoming more expensive for us; and

 

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difficulty in obtaining distribution and support.

A significant legal risk associated with conducting business internationally is compliance with various and differing anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws and regulations of the countries in which we do business, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act and similar laws in China. In addition, the anti-corruption laws in various countries are constantly evolving and may, in some cases, conflict with each other. Our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct and other policies prohibit us and our employees from offering or giving anything of value to a government official for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business and from engaging in unethical business practices, including kick-backs to or from purely private parties. However, there can be no assurance that all of our employees or agents will refrain from acting in violation of this and our related anti-corruption policies and procedures. Any such violation could have a material adverse effect on our business.

A majority of our products are produced and sourced in Asia, including in China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Any conflict or uncertainty in these countries, including due to political or civil unrest, public health or safety concerns or natural disasters, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, if the government of any country in which our products are manufactured or sold sets technical standards for products manufactured in or imported into their country that are not widely shared, it may lead certain of our customers to suspend imports of their products into that country, require manufacturers in that country to manufacture products with different technical standards and disrupt cross-border manufacturing relationships which, in each case, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, our subsidiaries may require future equity-related financing, and any capital contributions to certain of our subsidiaries may require the approval of the relevant authorities in the jurisdiction in which the subsidiary is incorporated. The approvals are required from the investment commissions or similar agency of the particular jurisdiction and relate to any initial or additional equity investment by foreign entities in local corporations. Our failure to obtain the required approvals and our resulting inability to provide such equity-related financing or capital contributions could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may not realize the full benefits of our research and development grants.

We have accepted research and development grants, the receipt and amount of which are subject to our satisfaction of certain terms and conditions. During fiscal year 2012, we recorded an aggregate of $7 million in credits to research and development expense and $1 million as a deferred credit for capital expenditures pursuant

 

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to these grants. During fiscal year 2011, we recorded an aggregate of $1 million in credits to research and development expense and $1 million as a deferred credit for capital expenditures pursuant to these grants. If we cannot or elect not to satisfy the terms and conditions of any of these grants, expenses incurred in respect of the relevant research and development projects will not be approved for reimbursement, we may be required to return amounts previously paid to us under the grants and further grants may not be available to us in the future.

We may pursue acquisitions, dispositions, investments and joint ventures, which could affect our results of operations.

We may make acquisitions of, and investments in, businesses that offer complementary products, services and technologies, augment our market coverage, or enhance our technological capabilities. We may also enter into strategic alliances or joint ventures to achieve these goals. We cannot assure you that we will be able to identify suitable acquisition, investment, alliance, or joint venture opportunities or that we will be able to consummate any such transactions or relationships on terms and conditions acceptable to us, or that such transactions or relationships will be successful.

These transactions or any other acquisitions or dispositions involve risks and uncertainties. For example, the integration of acquired businesses may not be successful and could result in disruption to other parts of our business. In addition, the integration may require that we incur significant restructuring charges, including as a result of streamlining, or divesting non-core portions of, acquired businesses. To integrate acquired businesses, we must implement our management information systems, operating systems and internal controls, and assimilate and manage the personnel of the acquired operations. The difficulties of these integrations may be further complicated by such factors as the size of the business or entity acquired, geographic distances, lack of experience operating in the geographic market or industry sector of the acquired business, delays and challenges associated with integrating the business with our existing businesses, diversion of management’s attention from daily operations of the business, potential loss of key employees and customers of the acquired business, the potential for deficiencies in internal controls at the acquired or combined business, performance problems with the acquired business’ technology, difficulties in entering markets in which we have no or limited direct prior experience, exposure to unanticipated liabilities of the acquired business, insufficient revenues to offset increased expenses associated with the acquisition, and our potential inability to achieve the growth prospects and synergies expected from any such acquisition. Even when an acquired business has already developed and marketed products, there can be no assurance that product enhancements will be made in a timely fashion or that all pre-acquisition due diligence will have identified all material issues that might arise with respect to such acquired business.

Any acquisition may also cause us to assume liabilities and ongoing lawsuits, acquire goodwill and non-amortizable intangible assets that will be subject to impairment testing and potential impairment charges, incur amortization expense related to certain intangible assets, increase our expenses and working capital requirements, and subject us to litigation, which would reduce our return on invested capital. In addition, if the businesses or products lines that we acquire have a different pricing or cost structure than we do, such acquisitions may adversely affect our profitability and reduce our overall margin. Failure to manage and successfully integrate the acquisitions we make or to improve margins of the acquired businesses and products could materially harm our business, operating results and margins.

Any future acquisitions may require significant additional debt or equity financing, which, in the case of debt financing, would increase our leverage and potentially affect our credit ratings, and in the case of equity financing, would be dilutive to our existing shareholders. Any downgrades in our credit ratings associated with an acquisition could adversely affect our ability to borrow by resulting in more restrictive borrowing terms. As a result of the foregoing, we also may not be able to complete acquisitions or other strategic transactions in the future to the same extent as in the past, or at all. These and other factors could harm our ability to achieve anticipated levels of profitability at acquired operations or realize other anticipated benefits of an acquisition, and could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

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Our business is subject to various governmental regulations, and compliance with these regulations may cause us to incur significant expenses. If we fail to maintain compliance with applicable regulations, we may be forced to recall products and cease their manufacture and distribution, and we could be subject to civil or criminal penalties.

Our business is subject to various significant international and U.S. laws and other legal requirements, including packaging, product content, labor and import/export regulations. These regulations are complex, change frequently and have generally become more stringent over time. We may be required to incur significant expenses to comply with these regulations or to remedy violations of these regulations. Any failure by us to comply with applicable government regulations could result in cessation of our operations or portions of our operations, product recalls or impositions of fines and restrictions on our ability to conduct our operations. In addition, because many of our products are regulated or sold into regulated industries, we must comply with additional regulations in marketing our products.

Our products and operations are also subject to the rules of industrial standards bodies, like the International Standards Organization, as well as regulation by other agencies, such as the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. If we fail to adequately address any of these rules or regulations, our business could be harmed.

We must conform the manufacture and distribution of our semiconductors to various laws and adapt to regulatory requirements in all countries as these requirements change. If we fail to comply with these requirements in the manufacture or distribution of our products, we could be required to pay civil penalties, face criminal prosecution and, in some cases, be prohibited from distributing our products commercially until the products or component substances are brought into compliance.

We are subject to environmental, health and safety laws, which could increase our costs, restrict our operations and require expenditures that could have a material adverse affect on our results of operations and financial condition.

We are subject to a variety of international and U.S. laws and other legal requirements relating to the use, disposal, clean-up of and human exposure to, hazardous materials. Any failure by us to comply with environmental, health and safety requirements could result in the limitation or suspension of production or subject us to future liabilities in excess of our reserves. In addition, compliance with environmental, health and safety requirements could restrict our ability to expand our facilities or require us to acquire costly pollution control equipment, incur other significant expenses or modify our manufacturing processes. In the event of the discovery of new contamination, additional requirements with respect to existing contamination, or the imposition of other cleanup obligations for which we are responsible, we may be required to take remedial or other measures which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We also face increasing complexity in our product design and procurement operations as we adjust to new requirements relating to the materials composition of our products, including the restrictions on lead and certain other substances in electronics that apply to specified electronics products sold in the European Union as of July 1, 2006 under the Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive. Other countries, such as the United States, China and Japan, have enacted or may enact laws or regulations similar to the EU legislation. Other environmental regulations may require us to re-engineer our products to utilize components that are more environmentally compatible. Such re-engineering and component substitution may result in excess inventory or other additional costs and could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

In addition to the costs of complying with environmental, health and safety requirements, we may in the future incur costs defending against environmental litigation brought by government agencies and private parties. We may be defendants in lawsuits brought by parties in the future alleging environmental damage, personal injury or property damage. A significant judgment against us could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In the last few years, there has been increased media scrutiny and associated reports focusing on a potential link between working in semiconductor manufacturing clean room environments and certain illnesses, primarily different types of cancers. Regulatory agencies and industry associations have begun to study the issue to see if

 

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any actual correlation exists. Because we utilize clean rooms, we may become subject to liability claims. In addition, these reports may also affect our ability to recruit and retain employees.

We cannot predict:

 

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changes in environmental or health and safety laws or regulations;

 

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the manner in which environmental or health and safety laws or regulations will be enforced, administered or interpreted;

 

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our ability to enforce and collect under indemnity agreements and insurance policies relating to environmental liabilities; or

 

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the cost of compliance with future environmental or health and safety laws or regulations or the costs associated with any future environmental claims, including the cost of clean-up of currently unknown environmental conditions.

New regulations related to “conflict minerals” may force us to incur additional expenses, may make our supply chain more complex and may result in damage to our reputation with customers.

Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, or the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC has adopted new requirements for companies that use certain minerals and metals, known as conflict minerals, in their products, whether or not these products are manufactured by third parties. These requirements will require companies to diligence, disclose and report whether or not such minerals originate from the Democratic Republic of Congo and adjoining countries. The implementation of these new requirements could adversely affect the sourcing, availability and pricing of minerals used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, including our products. In addition, we will incur additional costs to comply with the disclosure requirements, including costs related to determining the source of any of the relevant minerals and metals used in our products. Since our supply chain is complex, we may not be able to sufficiently verify the origins for these minerals and metals used in our products through the due diligence procedures that we implement, which may harm our reputation. In such event, we may also face difficulties in satisfying customers who require that all of the components of our products are certified as conflict mineral free.

We rely on third-party distributors and manufacturers’ representatives, as well as our employee sales representatives, and the failure of these distributors or representatives to perform as expected could reduce our future sales.

In addition to selling products through our employee sales representatives, we also rely on distributors and manufacturers’ representatives to sell our products to our customers. This is particularly the case in markets where we do not have a significant physical presence and new markets that we are seeking to enter. We are unable to predict the extent to which our distributors and manufacturers’ representatives will be successful in marketing and selling our products. Moreover, many of our distributors and manufacturers’ representatives also market and sell competing products. Our relationships with our representatives and distributors may be terminated by either party at any time. Our future performance will depend, in part, on our ability to attract additional distributors or manufacturers’ representatives that will be able to market and support our products effectively, especially in markets where we have not previously distributed our products, and on our ability to effectively manage distribution efforts by our remaining global, full-line distributors. If we cannot retain our current distributors or manufacturers’ representatives, recruit additional or replacement distributors or manufacturers’ representatives, or effectively manage changes to our sales and distributions strategies, our sales and operating results will be harmed.

The average selling prices of products in our markets have historically decreased rapidly and will likely do so in the future, which could harm our revenues and gross profits.

The products we develop and sell are used for high volume applications. As a result, the prices of those products have historically decreased rapidly. Gross profits on our products may be negatively affected by, among other things, pricing pressures from our customers, and the proportion of sales of our wireless and other products

 

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into consumer application markets, which are highly competitive and cost sensitive. In the past, we have reduced the average selling prices of our products in anticipation of future competitive pricing pressures, new product introductions by us or our competitors and other factors. In addition, some of our customer agreements provide for volume-based pricing and product pricing roadmaps, which can also reduce the average selling prices of our products over time. Our gross profits and financial results will suffer if we are unable to offset any reductions in our average selling prices by increasing our sales volumes, reducing manufacturing costs, or developing new and higher value-added products on a timely basis.

We are required to assess our internal control over financial reporting on an annual basis and any adverse findings from such assessment could result in a loss of investor confidence in our financial reports, significant expenses to remediate any internal control deficiencies and ultimately have an adverse effect on our share price.

We are required to assess the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting annually, as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Even though, as at October 28, 2012, we concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective, we need to maintain our processes and systems and adapt them as our business grows and changes. This continuous process of maintaining and adapting our internal controls and complying with Section 404 is expensive, time-consuming and requires significant management attention. We cannot be certain that our internal control measures will continue to provide adequate control over our financial processes and reporting and ensure compliance with Section 404. Furthermore, as we grow our business or acquire other businesses, our internal controls may become more complex and we may require significantly more resources to ensure they remain effective. Failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation, either in our existing business or in businesses that we may acquire, could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. If we or our independent registered public accounting firm identify material weaknesses in our internal controls, the disclosure of that fact, even if quickly remedied, may cause investors to lose confidence in our financial statements and the trading price of our ordinary shares may decline.

Remediation of a material weakness could require us to incur significant expense and if we fail to remedy any material weakness, our financial statements may be inaccurate, our ability to report our financial results on a timely and accurate basis may be adversely affected, our access to the capital markets may be restricted, the trading price of our ordinary shares may decline, and we may be subject to sanctions or investigation by regulatory authorities, including the SEC or The Nasdaq Global Select Market. We may also be required to restate our financial statements from prior periods.

A breach of our security systems may have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our security systems are designed to maintain the physical security of our facilities and protect our customers’, suppliers’ and employees’ confidential information. However, we are also dependent on a number of third-party “cloud-based” service providers of critical corporate infrastructure services relating to, among other things, human resources, electronic communication services and certain finance functions, and we are, of necessity, dependent on the security systems of these providers. Accidental or willful security breaches or other unauthorized access by third parties to our facilities, our information systems or the systems of our cloud-based service providers or the existence of computer viruses in our or their data or software could expose us to a risk of information loss and misappropriation of proprietary and confidential information. Any theft or misuse of such information could result in, among other things, unfavorable publicity, damage to our reputation, difficulty in marketing our products, allegations by our customers that we have not performed our contractual obligations, litigation by affected parties and possible financial obligations for liabilities and damages related to the theft or misuse of such information, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, profitability and financial condition. Since the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems change frequently and are often not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures.

 

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Risks Relating to Investments in Singapore Companies

It may be difficult to enforce a judgment of U.S. courts for civil liabilities under U.S. federal securities laws against us, our directors or officers in Singapore.

We are incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Singapore, and certain of our officers and directors are resident outside the United States. Moreover, a majority of our consolidated assets are located outside the United States. Although we are incorporated outside the United States, we have agreed to accept service of process in the United States through our agent designated for that purpose. Nevertheless, since a majority of the consolidated assets owned by us are located outside the United States, any judgment obtained in the United States against us may not be collectible within the United States.

There is no treaty between the United States and Singapore providing for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters and a final judgment for the payment of money rendered by any federal or state court in the United States based on civil liability, whether or not predicated solely upon the federal securities laws, would, therefore, not be automatically enforceable in Singapore. There is doubt whether a Singapore court may impose civil liability on us or our directors and officers who reside in Singapore in a suit brought in the Singapore courts against us or such persons with respect to a violation solely of the federal securities laws of the United States, unless the facts surrounding such a violation would constitute or give rise to a cause of action under Singapore law. Consequently, it may be difficult for investors to enforce against us, our directors or our officers in Singapore judgments obtained in the United States, which are predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States.

We are incorporated in Singapore and our shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interest than they would as shareholders of a corporation incorporated in the United States, and we may have more difficulty attracting and retaining qualified board members and executives.

Our corporate affairs are governed by our memorandum and articles of association and by the laws governing corporations incorporated in Singapore. The rights of our shareholders and the responsibilities of the members of our board of directors under Singapore law are different from those applicable to a corporation incorporated in the United States. Therefore, our public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interest in connection with actions taken by our management or members of our board of directors than they would as shareholders of a corporation incorporated in the United States.

In addition, being a public company incorporated in Singapore may make it more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of our board of directors, particularly to serve on committees of our Board, and qualified executive officers.

For a limited period of time, our directors have general authority to allot and issue new ordinary shares on terms and conditions as may be determined by our board of directors in its sole discretion.

Under Singapore law, we may only allot and issue new ordinary shares with the prior approval of our shareholders in a general meeting. At our 2012 annual general meeting of shareholders, or AGM, our shareholders provided our directors with the general authority to allot and issue any number of new ordinary shares until the earlier of (i) the conclusion of our 2013 AGM, (ii) the expiration of the period within which the next annual general meeting is required to be held (i.e., within 15 months from the conclusion of the last general meeting) or (iii) the subsequent revocation or modification of such general authority by our shareholders acting at a duly noticed and convened meeting. Subject to the general authority to allot and issue new ordinary shares provided by our shareholders, the provisions of the Singapore Companies Act and our memorandum and articles of association, our board of directors may allot and issue new ordinary shares on terms and conditions as they may think fit to impose. Any additional issuances of new ordinary shares by our directors may adversely impact the market price of our ordinary shares.

 

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Risks Relating to Owning Our Ordinary Shares

At times, our share price has been volatile and it may fluctuate substantially in the future, which could result in substantial losses for our investors.

The trading price of our ordinary shares has, at times, fluctuated significantly. The trading price of our ordinary shares could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to many risk factors listed in this “Risk Factors” section, and others, many of which are beyond our control, including:

 

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actual or anticipated fluctuations in our financial condition and operating results;

 

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issuance of new or updated research or reports by securities analysts;

 

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fluctuations in the valuation of companies perceived by investors to be comparable to us;

 

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sales of our ordinary shares by us or our shareholders;

 

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share price and volume fluctuations attributable to inconsistent trading volume levels of our shares; and

 

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changes in our dividend policy.

These fluctuations are often unrelated or disproportionate to our operating performance. These broad market and industry fluctuations, as well as general economic, political and market conditions such as recessions, interest rate changes or international currency fluctuations, may negatively impact the market price of our ordinary shares. You may not realize any return on your investment in us and may lose some or all of your investment. In the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future. Securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention from other business concerns, which could seriously harm our business.

There can be no assurance that we will continue to declare cash dividends or repurchase shares.

Our board of directors adopted a dividend policy pursuant to which the Company will pay quarterly dividends on our ordinary shares and our board of directors has also re-approved a program authorizing management to repurchase up to 15 million of the Company’s ordinary shares, in their discretion, which authorization will expire at our 2013 AGM. The declaration and payment of any future dividend is subject to the approval of our board of directors and our dividend policy could change at any time. Similarly, our share repurchase program may be suspended from time to time or terminated at any time prior to its expiration at the 2013 AGM. There can be no assurance that we will declare cash dividends or repurchase shares in the future in any particular amounts, or at all. Furthermore, we may declare dividends as interim dividends, which are wholly provisional under Singapore law and may be revoked by our board of directors at any time prior to the payment thereof. The payment of cash dividends is restricted by applicable law and our corporate structure. Pursuant to Singapore law and our articles of association, no dividends may be paid except out of our profits. Also, because we are a holding company, our ability to pay cash dividends on our ordinary shares and to repurchase our shares may be limited by restrictions on our ability to obtain sufficient funds through dividends from subsidiaries, including restrictions under the terms of our credit agreement.

Future dividends and share repurchases, if any, their timing and amount, as well as the relative allocation of cash between dividends and share repurchases, may be affected by, among other factors: our views on potential future capital requirements for strategic transactions, including acquisitions; earnings levels; contractual restrictions; cash position and overall financial condition; and changes to our business model. In addition, the amount we spend and the number of shares we are able to repurchase under our share repurchase program may further be affected by a number of other factors, including the share price and blackout periods in which we are restricted from repurchasing shares. A reduction in, or elimination of, our dividend payments and/or share repurchases could have a negative effect on our share price.

 

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Singapore corporate law may impede a takeover of our company by a third-party, which could adversely affect the value of our ordinary shares.

The Singapore Code on Take-overs and Mergers contains provisions that may delay, deter or prevent a future takeover or change in control of our company for so long as we remain a public company with more than 50 shareholders and net tangible assets of S$5 million or more. Any person acquiring an interest, whether by a series of transactions over a period of time or not, either on their own or together with parties acting in concert with such person, in 30% or more of our voting shares, or, if such person holds, either on their own or together with parties acting in concert with such person, between 30% and 50% (both inclusive) of our voting shares, and such person (or parties acting in concert with such person) acquires additional voting shares representing more than 1% of our voting shares in any six-month period, must, except with the consent of the Securities Industry Council in Singapore, extend a mandatory takeover offer for the remaining voting shares in accordance with the provisions of the Singapore Code on Take-overs and Mergers. While the Singapore Code on Take-overs and Mergers seeks to ensure equality of treatment among shareholders, its provisions may discourage or prevent certain types of transactions involving an actual or threatened change of control of our company. These legal requirements may impede or delay a takeover of our company by a third-party, which could adversely affect the value of our ordinary shares.

Our actual operating results may differ significantly from our guidance.

From time to time, we release guidance regarding our future performance that represents our management’s estimates as of the date of release. This guidance, which consists of forward-looking statements, is prepared by our management and is qualified by, and subject to, the assumptions and the other information contained or referred to in the release. Our guidance is not prepared with a view toward compliance with published guidelines of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and neither our independent registered public accounting firm nor any other independent expert or outside party compiles or examines the guidance and, accordingly, no such person expresses any opinion or any other form of assurance with respect thereto.

Guidance is based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while presented with numerical specificity, is inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control and are based upon specific assumptions with respect to future business decisions, some of which will change. We generally state possible outcomes as high and low ranges which are intended to provide a sensitivity analysis as variables are changed but are not intended to represent that actual results could not fall outside of the suggested ranges. The principal reason that we release this data is to provide a basis for our management to discuss our business outlook with analysts and investors. We do not accept any responsibility for any projections or reports published by any such persons.

Guidance is necessarily speculative in nature, and it can be expected that some or all of the assumptions of the guidance furnished by us will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. Accordingly, our guidance is only an estimate of what management believes is realizable as of the date of release. Actual results will vary from the guidance and the variations may be material. Investors should also recognize that the reliability of any forecasted financial data diminishes the farther in the future that the data is forecast. In light of the foregoing, investors are urged to put the guidance in context and not to place undue reliance on it.

Any failure to successfully implement our operating strategy or the occurrence of any of the events or circumstances set forth in, or incorporated by reference into, this prospectus could result in the actual operating results being different than the guidance, and such differences may be adverse and material.

 

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USE OF PROCEEDS

The selling shareholders will receive all of the proceeds from this offering, and we will not receive any proceeds from the sale of ordinary shares in this offering. However, we will receive approximately $1.5 million in option exercise price proceeds from a selling shareholder who will exercise options for the purpose of selling shares in this offering. We will pay the expenses associated with the sale of those ordinary shares pursuant to the Registration Rights Agreement described under “Description of Share Capital — Registration Rights Agreement” in the accompanying prospectus, other than the underwriting discounts and commissions attributable to shares sold by the selling shareholders. The selling shareholders include KKR and Silver Lake, which are affiliated with directors of our company, and our President and Chief Executive Officer. The selling shareholders collectively, beneficially own approximately 9.0% of our ordinary shares prior to this offering. See “Selling Shareholders.”

PRICE RANGE OF ORDINARY SHARES

Market Information

Our ordinary shares have been listed on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “AVGO” since our initial public offering on August 6, 2009. Prior to that date, there was no public market for our ordinary shares. The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the high and low sales prices of our ordinary shares as reported by The Nasdaq Global Select Market:

 

		High				Low
Fiscal Year Ending October 30, 2011
First Quarter		$	29.44			$	23.77
Second Quarter			34.60				27.95
Third Quarter			39.45				31.48
Fourth Quarter		$	37.99				26.42
Fiscal Year Ending October 28, 2012
First Quarter		$	35.00			$	27.39
Second Quarter			39.22				32.38
Third Quarter			36.47				29.70
Fourth Quarter		$	37.88				32.39
Fiscal Year Ending November 3, 2013
First Quarter (through December 5, 2012)		$	35.58			$	31.68

The closing sale price per ordinary share on December 5, 2012, as reported by The Nasdaq Global Select Market, was $34.53.

Holders

As of November 25, 2012, there were 13 holders of record of our ordinary shares. A substantially greater number of shareholders are “street name” or beneficial holders, whose shares are held of record by banks, brokers and other financial institutions.

DIVIDEND POLICY

Our board of directors has adopted a dividend policy authorizing us to pay a quarterly cash dividend. On December 6, 2012, our board of directors declared a dividend of $0.17 per ordinary share payable on December 28, 2012 to shareholders of record at the close of business (5:00 pm Eastern time) on December 17, 2012 (the “Record Date”). Purchasers of ordinary shares in this offering who hold such shares as of the Record Date will be entitled to receive the dividend payable to shareholders on December 28, 2012.

 

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Our board of directors reviews our dividend policy regularly and the declaration and payment of any future cash dividends will be at the discretion and approval of our board of directors and subject to the board’s continuing determination that they are in the best interests of the Company. Future dividend payments will also depend upon such factors as our earnings levels, capital requirements, contractual restrictions, cash position, overall financial condition and any other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors.

The payment of cash dividends on ordinary shares is restricted under applicable law and our corporate structure. Pursuant to Singapore law and our articles of association, no dividends may be paid except out of our profits. Also, because we are a holding company, our ability to pay cash dividends on our ordinary shares may be limited by restrictions on our ability to obtain sufficient funds through dividends from subsidiaries, including restrictions under the terms of our senior credit agreement.

 

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SELLING SHAREHOLDERS

The following table sets forth information about the beneficial ownership of our ordinary shares at November 25, 2012 for each of the selling shareholders.

We have determined beneficial ownership in accordance with the rules of the SEC. Except as indicated by the footnotes below, we believe, based on the information furnished to us, that the persons and entities named in the table below have sole voting and investment power with respect to all ordinary shares that they beneficially own, subject to applicable community property laws.

Ordinary shares subject to options that are currently exercisable or exercisable within 60 days of November 25, 2012 are deemed to be outstanding and to be beneficially owned by the person holding the options for the purpose of computing the percentage ownership of that person or entity but are not treated as outstanding for the purpose of computing the percentage ownership of any other person or entity.

Percentage ownership is based on 245,626,376 ordinary shares outstanding on November 25, 2012.

 

		Ordinary Shares Beneficially Owned(1)				Shares Being Offered				Ordinary Shares Beneficially Owned(1)				Percentage of Shares Beneficially Owned
		Prior to the Offering								After the Offering				Prior to the Offering				After the Offering
Funds affiliated with KKR(2)			11,457,180				11,457,180				—				4.7	%			—
Suite 1550, 520-5th Avenue S.W. Calgary, Canada
Funds affiliated with Silver Lake(3)			11,232,754				11,232,754				—				4.6	%			—
Ugland House, P.O. Box 309 South Church Street George Town Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Kenneth Y. Hao(4)			11,292,335				11,232,754				59,581				4.6	%			*
Capstone Equity Investors LLC(5)			136,516				136,516				—				*				—
9 West 57th Street 11th Floor New York, NY 10019
Hock E. Tan(6)			840,002				300,000				540,002				*				*
President and Chief Executive Officer

 

*	Represents beneficial ownership of less than 1%.

 

(1)	Shares shown in the table above include shares held in the beneficial owner’s name or jointly with others, or in the name of a bank, nominee or trustee for the beneficial owner’s account.

 

(2)

Shares shown in the table above consist of (a) 2,209,597 shares directly held by KKR Millennium Fund (Overseas), Limited Partnership, or Millennium Fund, (b) 4,399,604 shares directly held by KKR European Fund Limited Partnership, or European Fund, (c) 2,950,886 shares directly held by KKR European Fund II, Limited Partnership, or European Fund II, (d) 390,665 shares directly held by KKR Partners (International) Limited Partnership, or KKR Partners, and (e) 1,506,428 shares directly held by Avago Investment Partners Limited Partnership, or AIP.

KKR Associates Millennium (Overseas), Limited Partnership is the sole general partner of Millennium Fund. KKR Millennium Limited is the sole general partner of KKR Associates Millennium (Overseas), Limited Partnership. In such capacities, KKR Associates Millennium (Overseas), Limited Partnership and KKR Millennium Limited may be deemed to beneficially own the 2,209,597 ordinary shares directly held by Millennium Fund, but disclaim such beneficial ownership. KKR Associates Europe, Limited Partnership is the sole general partner of European Fund. KKR Europe Limited is the sole general partner of KKR Associates Europe, Limited Partnership. KKR Associates Europe, Limited Partnership and KKR Europe Limited disclaim beneficial ownership of the 4,399,604 ordinary shares directly held by European Fund.

 

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KKR Associates Europe II, Limited Partnership is the sole general partner of European Fund II. KKR Europe II Limited is the sole general partner of KKR Associates Europe II, Limited Partnership. In such capacities, KKR Associates Europe II, Limited Partnership and KKR Europe II Limited may be deemed to beneficially own the 2,950,886 ordinary shares directly held by European Fund II, but disclaim such beneficial ownership.

Avago Investment G.P., Limited is the sole general partner of AIP. KKR Millennium GP LLC is a member of Avago Investment G.P., Limited. In such capacities, Avago Investment G.P., Limited and KKR Millennium GP LLC may be deemed to beneficially own the 1,506,428 ordinary shares directly held by AIP, but disclaim such beneficial ownership.

Each of KKR SP Limited, or KKR SP (as a voting partner to each of KKR Associates Millennium (Overseas), Limited Partnership, KKR Associates Europe, Limited Partnership and KKR Associates Europe II, Limited Partnership); KKR Fund Holdings L.P., or KKR Fund Holdings (as the sole shareholder of KKR Millennium Limited, KKR Europe Limited and KKR Europe II Limited and the designated member of KKR Millennium GP LLC); KKR Fund Holdings GP Limited, or KKR Fund Holdings GP (as a general partner of KKR Fund Holdings); KKR Group Holdings L.P., or KKR Group Holdings (as the sole shareholder of KKR Fund Holdings GP and a general partner of KKR Fund Holdings); KKR Group Limited, or KKR Group (as the general partner of KKR Group Holdings); KKR & Co. L.P., or KKR & Co. (as the sole shareholder of KKR Group); and KKR Management LLC (as the general partner of KKR & Co.) may also be deemed to be the beneficial owner of the securities held by Millennium Fund, European Fund and European Fund II.

KKR 1996 Overseas, Limited is the sole general partner of KKR Partners, but disclaims beneficial ownership of the 390,665 ordinary shares directly held by KKR Partners.

As the designated members of KKR Management LLC, Messrs. Henry R. Kravis and George R. Roberts may be deemed to be the beneficial owner of the securities held by Millennium Fund, European Fund and European Fund II but disclaim beneficial ownership of such securities. As directors of KKR 1996 Overseas, Limited, each of Messrs. Henry R. Kravis, George R. Roberts, James H. Greene, Jr., Paul E. Raether, Michael W. Michelson, Johannes P. Huth, Todd A. Fisher, Alexander Navab, Marc S. Lipschultz, Reinhard Gorenflos, Joseph Y. Bae, Brian F. Carroll, Scott C. Nuttall and William J. Janetschek may be deemed to be the beneficial owner of the securities held by KKR Partners but disclaims beneficial ownership of such securities. The entities named in this note (2) excluding AIP are sometimes referred to as the KKR Entities. Adam H. Clammer is a member of our board of directors and is an executive of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. and/or one or more of its affiliates. Mr. Clammer disclaims beneficial ownership of any securities beneficially owned by the KKR Entities. The address of the KKR Entities and the individuals named in this note (2) other than Messrs. Roberts, Greene, Michelson and Clammer is c/o Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P., 9 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019. The address of Messrs. Roberts, Greene, Michelson and Clammer is c/o Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P., 2800 Sand Hill Road, Suite 200, Menlo Park, CA 94025. The address of AIP is P.O. Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman KY1-1104, Cayman Islands.

 

(3)

Consists of (i) 9,698,592 shares directly held by Silver Lake Partners II Cayman, L.P., or SLP II Cayman, (ii) 27,734 shares directly held by Silver Lake Technology Investors II Cayman, L.P., or SLTI II Cayman, and (iii) 1,506,428 shares directly held by AIP (as defined in footnote (2) above). For ease of reference, SLP II Cayman and SLTI II Cayman are collectively referred to as the “Silver Lake Funds” in footnotes (3) and (4).

Silver Lake Technology Associates II Cayman, L.P., or SLTA II Cayman, is the general partner of SLP II Cayman. Silver Lake (Offshore) AIV GP II, Ltd., or AIV GP II, is (a) the general partner of each of SLTA II Cayman and SLTI II Cayman and (b) a member of Avago Investment G.P., Limited, which is the general partner of AIP. In such capacities, SLTA II Cayman may be deemed to beneficially own the ordinary shares directly held by SLP II Cayman, and AIV GP II may be deemed to beneficially own the ordinary shares directly held by the Silver Lake Funds and AIP, but SLTA II Cayman and AIV GP II disclaim such beneficial ownership. As directors of AIV GP II, each of James A. Davidson, Glenn H. Hutchins, David J. Roux, Alan K. Austin, Michael J. Bingle, Charles Giancarlo, Andy Wagner, Greg Mondre, Kenneth Y. Hao, Yolande A. Jun and Karen M. King may be deemed to be the beneficial owner of the ordinary shares held by the Silver Lake Funds and AIP but disclaims beneficial ownership of such ordinary shares.

 

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The shares in the column entitled “Shares Being Offered” include 130,000 ordinary shares that SLP II Cayman will distribute to certain officers of Silver Lake in connection with such officers’ donation of the shares to charitable organizations.

 

(4)

As disclosed in Footnote (3) above, Mr. Hao is a director of AIV GP II. Amounts disclosed for Mr. Hao include shares beneficially owned by the Silver Lake Funds and AIP. Mr. Hao disclaims beneficial ownership of any shares beneficially owned by the Silver Lake Funds and AIP. See Footnote (3) above. Mr. Hao also serves as a member of our board of directors. The shares listed next to his name in the table above include (i) 52,395 shares held by Mr. Hao pursuant to the exercise of share options and the vesting of restricted share units, or RSUs, granted to Mr. Hao and (ii) 7,186 shares that he has the right to acquire within 60 days after November 25, 2012 upon the exercise of share options. Pursuant to Mr. Hao’s arrangement with Silver Lake with respect to director compensation, upon the sale of such shares (including the shares received from the exercise of options and the vesting of RSUs), the proceeds from such sale are expected to be remitted to Silver Lake. Accordingly, Mr. Hao disclaims beneficial ownership of such shares.

 

(5)

Mr. Dean Nelson, as the managing member of Capstone Equity Investors LLC, has sole voting and dispositive power over the ordinary shares and may be deemed to share beneficial ownership of any shares beneficially owned by Capstone Equity Investors LLC, but disclaims such beneficial ownership except to the extent of his pecuniary interest.

 

(6)	Shares shown in the table consist of shares that Mr. Tan has the right to acquire within 60 days after November 25, 2012 upon the exercise of options.

 

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TAX CONSIDERATIONS

The following discussion of the material U.S. federal income tax and Singapore tax consequences of an investment in our ordinary shares is based upon laws and relevant interpretations thereof in effect as of the date of this prospectus supplement, all of which are subject to change. This discussion does not address all possible tax consequences relating to an investment in the ordinary shares, such as the tax consequences under state, local and other tax laws. To the extent that the discussion relates to matters of Singapore tax law, it represents the opinion of WongPartnership LLP, our Singapore counsel. Based on the facts and subject to the limitations set forth herein, the statements of law or legal conclusions under the caption “— U.S. Federal Income Taxation” constitute the opinion of Latham & Watkins LLP, our special U.S. counsel, as to the material U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. Holders (as defined below) under current law of an investment in the ordinary shares.

U.S. Federal Income Taxation

The following discussion describes certain material U.S. federal income tax consequences to U.S. Holders (as defined below) under current law of an investment in our ordinary shares. This discussion applies only to U.S. Holders that hold our ordinary shares as capital assets (generally, property held for investment) and that have the U.S. dollar as their functional currency. This discussion is based on the tax laws of the United States in effect as of the date of this prospectus supplement and on U.S. Treasury regulations in effect or, in some cases, proposed as of the date of this prospectus supplement, as well as judicial and administrative interpretations thereof available on or before such date. All of the foregoing authorities are subject to change, which could apply retroactively and could affect the tax consequences described below.

The following discussion does not address the tax consequences to any particular investor or to persons in special tax situations such as:

 

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banks;

 

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certain financial institutions;

 

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insurance companies;

 

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regulated investment companies;

 

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real estate investment trusts;

 

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broker-dealers;

 

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traders that elect to use a mark-to-market method of accounting;

 

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U.S. expatriates;

 

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tax-exempt entities;

 

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persons liable for alternative minimum tax;

 

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persons holding our ordinary shares as part of a straddle, hedging, constructive sale, conversion or integrated transaction;

 

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persons that actually or constructively own 10% or more of the total combined voting power of all classes of our voting stock;

 

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persons who acquired our ordinary shares pursuant to the exercise of any employee share option or otherwise as compensation; or

 

Ÿ

partnerships or other pass-through entities, or persons holding our ordinary shares through such entities.

In addition, the discussion below does not describe any tax consequences arising out of the Medicare tax on certain “net investment income” pursuant to the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

 

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PROSPECTIVE INVESTORS SHOULD CONSULT THEIR TAX ADVISORS REGARDING THE APPLICATION OF THE U.S. FEDERAL TAX RULES TO THEIR PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES AS WELL AS THE STATE, LOCAL, NON-U.S. AND OTHER TAX CONSEQUENCES TO THEM OF THE PURCHASE, OWNERSHIP AND DISPOSITION OF OUR ORDINARY SHARES.

The discussion below of the U.S. federal income tax consequences to “U.S. Holders” will apply to you if you are a beneficial owner of our ordinary shares and you are for U.S. federal income tax purposes:

 

Ÿ

an individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States;

 

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a corporation (or other entity taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes) created or organized in the United States or under the laws of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia;

 

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an estate, the income of which is subject to U.S. federal income taxation regardless of its source; or

 

Ÿ

a trust that (1) is subject to the primary supervision of a court within the United States and the control of one or more U.S. persons for all substantial decisions or (2) has a valid election in effect under applicable U.S. Treasury regulations to be treated as a U.S. person.

If a partnership (or other entity taxable as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes) holds our ordinary shares, the tax treatment of a partner in such partnership will generally depend upon the status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. If you are a partnership holding our ordinary shares, or a partner in such partnership, you should consult your tax advisors.

Taxation of Dividends and Other Distributions on the Ordinary Shares

Subject to the passive foreign investment company rules discussed below, the U.S. dollar amount of the gross amount of any distribution we make to you with respect to our ordinary shares (including the amount of any taxes withheld therefrom) will generally be includible in your gross income, in the year actually or constructively received, as dividend income, but only to the extent that such distribution is paid out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits (as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles). To the extent that the amount of the distribution exceeds our current and accumulated earnings and profits (as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles), such excess will be treated first as a tax-free return of your tax basis in the ordinary shares you hold, and then, to the extent such excess amount exceeds your tax basis in the ordinary shares, as capital gain. If we do not calculate our earnings and profits under U.S. federal income tax principles, you should expect that any distribution we make to you will be reported as a dividend even if such distribution would otherwise be treated as a tax-free return of capital or as capital gain under the rules described above. Any dividends we pay will not be eligible for the dividends-received deduction allowed to corporations in respect of dividends received from other U.S. corporations.

With respect to certain non-corporate U.S. Holders, including individual U.S. Holders, for taxable years beginning before January 1, 2013, dividends will be taxed at the lower capital gains rate applicable to “qualified dividend income,” provided that (1) our ordinary shares are readily tradable on an established securities market in the United States, (2) we are neither a passive foreign investment company nor treated as such with respect to you (as discussed below) for our taxable year in which the dividend is paid and the preceding taxable year, and (3) certain holding period requirements are met. Under U.S. Internal Revenue Service authority, common or ordinary shares are considered for the purpose of clause (1) above to be readily tradable on an established securities market in the United States if they are listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, as are our ordinary shares. You should consult your tax advisors regarding the availability of the lower capital gains rate applicable to qualified dividend income for any dividends we pay with respect to the ordinary shares.

For foreign tax credit purposes, the limitation on foreign taxes eligible for credit is calculated separately with respect to specific classes of income. For this purpose, any dividends we pay with respect to our ordinary shares will generally constitute “passive category income” but could, in the case of certain U.S. Holders, constitute “general category income.” Any dividends we pay to you will generally constitute foreign source income for foreign tax credit limitation purposes. If the dividends are taxed as qualified dividend income (as discussed

 

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above), the amount of the dividend taken into account for purposes of calculating the foreign tax credit limitation will be limited to the gross amount of the dividend, multiplied by the reduced tax rate applicable to qualified dividend income and divided by the highest tax rate normally applicable to dividends. The rules relating to the determination of the foreign tax credit are complex and you should consult your tax advisors regarding the availability of a foreign tax credit in your particular circumstances.

Taxation of Dispositions of the Ordinary Shares

Subject to the passive foreign investment company rules discussed below, you will recognize taxable gain or loss on any sale, exchange or other taxable disposition of an ordinary share equal to the difference between the amount realized (in U.S. dollars) for the ordinary share and your tax basis (in U.S. dollars) in the ordinary share. The gain or loss will generally be capital gain or loss. If you are a non-corporate U.S. Holder, including an individual U.S. Holder, that has held the ordinary share for more than one year, you may be eligible for reduced tax rates. The deductibility of capital losses is subject to limitations. Any gain or loss that you recognize on a disposition of our ordinary shares will generally be treated as U.S. source income or loss for foreign tax credit limitation purposes. You should consult your tax advisors regarding the proper treatment of gain or loss in your particular circumstances.

Passive Foreign Investment Company

Based on the current and anticipated valuation of our assets, including goodwill, and composition of our income and assets, we do not expect to be a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC, for U.S. federal income tax purposes for our 2013 taxable year or any future taxable year. However, the application of the PFIC rules is subject to ambiguity in several respects. In addition, our actual PFIC status for the current taxable year or any future taxable year will not be determinable until after the close of each such year. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that we will not be a PFIC for our current taxable year or any future taxable year. Because PFIC status is a factual determination for each taxable year that cannot be made until after the close of each such year, Latham & Watkins LLP, our special U.S. counsel, expresses no opinion with respect to our PFIC status and also expresses no opinion with respect to our expectations set forth in this paragraph.

A non-U.S. corporation will be a PFIC for any taxable year if, applying certain look-through rules, either:

 

Ÿ

at least 75% of its gross income for such year is passive income, or

 

Ÿ

at least 50% of the value of its assets (based on an average of the quarterly values of the assets) during such year is attributable to assets that produce passive income or are held for the production of passive income (the “asset test”).

We must make a separate determination each taxable year as to whether we are a PFIC. As a result, our PFIC status may change. In particular, because the value of our assets for purposes of the asset test will generally be determined by reference to the market price of our ordinary shares, fluctuations in the market price of the ordinary shares may cause us to become a PFIC. In addition, changes in the composition of our income and assets may cause us to become a PFIC. If we are a PFIC for any taxable year during which you hold ordinary shares, we will continue to be treated as a PFIC with respect to you for all succeeding years during which you hold the ordinary shares, unless we cease to be a PFIC and you make a “deemed sale” election with respect to the ordinary shares. If such election is timely made, you will be deemed to have sold the ordinary shares you hold at their fair market value on the last day of the last taxable year for which we were a PFIC and any gain from such deemed sale would be subject to the rules described in the following paragraph. In addition, a new holding period would be deemed to begin for the ordinary shares for purposes of the PFIC rules. After the deemed sale election, so long as we do not become a PFIC in a subsequent taxable year, your ordinary shares with respect to which such election was made will not be treated as shares in a PFIC.

 

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For each taxable year that we are treated as a PFIC with respect to you, you will be subject to special tax rules with respect to any “excess distribution” that you receive and any gain you recognize from a sale or other disposition (including a pledge) of the ordinary shares, unless you make a “mark-to-market” election as discussed below. Distributions you receive in a taxable year that are greater than 125% of the average annual distributions you received during the shorter of the three preceding taxable years or your holding period for the ordinary shares will be treated as an excess distribution. Under these special tax rules:

 

Ÿ

the excess distribution or recognized gain will be allocated ratably over your holding period for the ordinary shares,

 

Ÿ

the amount allocated to the current taxable year, and any taxable years in your holding period prior to the first taxable year in which we were a PFIC, will be treated as ordinary income, and

 

Ÿ

the amount allocated to each other taxable year will be subject to the highest tax rate in effect for individuals or corporations, as applicable, for each such year, and the interest charge generally applicable to under- payments of tax will be imposed on the resulting tax attributable to each such year.

A U.S. Holder of “marketable stock” (as defined below) in a PFIC may make a mark-to-market election for such stock to elect out of the PFIC rules described above regarding excess distributions and recognized gains. If you make a mark-to-market election for our ordinary shares, you will include in gross income for each year that we are a PFIC an amount equal to the excess, if any, of the fair market value of the ordinary shares you hold as of the close of your taxable year over your adjusted basis in such ordinary shares. You will be allowed a deduction for the excess, if any, of the adjusted basis of the ordinary shares over their fair market value as of the close of the taxable year. However, deductions will be allowable only to the extent of any net mark-to-market gains on the ordinary shares included in your income for prior taxable years. Amounts included in your income under a mark-to-market election, as well as any gain on the actual sale or other disposition of the ordinary shares, will be treated as ordinary income. If you make a valid mark-to-market election, any distributions that we make would generally be subject to the tax rules discussed above under “— Taxation of Dividends and Other Distributions on the Ordinary Shares,” except that the lower tax rate applicable to qualified dividend income generally would not apply.

The mark-to-market election is available only for “marketable stock,” which is stock that is traded in other than de minimis quantities on at least 15 days during each calendar quarter (“regularly traded”) on a qualified exchange or other market, as defined in applicable U.S. Treasury regulations. Our ordinary shares are listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, which is a qualified exchange or other market for these purposes. Consequently, we expect that, provided the ordinary shares are regularly traded and you are a holder of the ordinary shares, the mark-to-market election would be available to you if we become a PFIC. You should consult your tax advisors as to the availability and desirability of a mark-to-market election.

Alternatively, a U.S. Holder of stock in a PFIC may make a “qualified electing fund” election with respect to such PFIC to elect out of the PFIC rules described above regarding excess distributions and recognized gains. A U.S. Holder that makes a valid qualified electing fund election with respect to a PFIC will generally include in gross income for a taxable year such holder’s pro rata share of the corporation’s earnings and profits for the taxable year. However, the qualified electing fund election is available only if the PFIC provides such U.S. Holder with certain information regarding its earnings and profits as required under applicable U.S. Treasury regulations. We currently do not intend to prepare or provide the information that would enable you to make a qualified electing fund election.

Unless otherwise provided by the U.S. Treasury, each U.S. shareholder of a PFIC is required to file an annual report containing such information as the U.S. Treasury may require. If we become a PFIC, you should consult your tax advisors regarding any reporting requirements that may apply to you.

You should consult your tax advisors regarding the application of the PFIC rules to your investment in our ordinary shares and the elections discussed above or any other elections that may be available to you.

 

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Information Reporting and Backup Withholding

Dividend payments with respect to ordinary shares and proceeds from the sale, exchange or redemption of ordinary shares will generally be subject to information reporting to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and possible U.S. backup withholding. Backup withholding will not apply, however, to a U.S. Holder that furnishes a correct taxpayer identification number and makes any other required certification on U.S. Internal Revenue Service Form W-9 or that is otherwise exempt from backup withholding. U.S. Holders that are exempt from backup withholding should still complete U.S. Internal Revenue Service Form W-9 to avoid possible erroneous backup withholding. Certain individuals holding ordinary shares other than in an account at certain financial institutions may be subject to additional information reporting requirements. You should consult your tax advisors regarding the application of the U.S. information reporting and backup withholding rules.

Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Amounts withheld as backup withholding may be credited against your U.S. federal income tax liability, and you may obtain a refund of any excess amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules by filing an appropriate claim for refund with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and furnishing any required information in a timely manner.

Singapore Tax Considerations

The following discussion is a summary of Singapore tax, stamp duty and estate duty considerations relevant to the purchase, ownership and disposition of our ordinary shares by an investor who is not tax resident or domiciled in Singapore and who does not carry on business or otherwise have a presence in Singapore. The statements made herein regarding taxation are based on certain aspects of the tax laws of Singapore and administrative guidelines issued by the relevant authorities in force as of the date hereof and are subject to any changes in such laws or administrative guidelines, or in the interpretation of those laws or guidelines, occurring after such date, which changes could be made on a retroactive basis. The statements made herein do not describe all of the tax considerations that may be relevant to all Avago shareholders, some of which (such as dealers in securities) may be subject to different rules. Each prospective investor should consult an independent tax advisor regarding all Singapore income and other tax consequences applicable to them from owning or disposing of our ordinary shares in light of the investor’s particular circumstances.

Income Taxation Under Singapore Law

Distributions with Respect to Ordinary Shares.    Singapore does not impose withholding tax on dividends. Under the one-tier corporate tax system which currently applies to all Singapore tax resident companies, tax on corporate profits is final, and dividends paid by a Singapore tax resident company will be tax exempt in the hands of a shareholder, whether or not the shareholder is a company or an individual and whether or not the shareholder is a Singapore tax resident.

Capital Gains upon Disposition of Ordinary Shares.    Under current Singapore tax laws, there is no tax on capital gains. As such, any profits from the disposal of our ordinary shares would not ordinarily be taxable in Singapore. However, if the gains from the disposal of ordinary shares are construed to be of an income nature (which could be the case if, for instance, the gains arise from the carrying on of a trade or business in Singapore), the disposal profits would be taxable as income rather than capital gains.

Stamp Duty

There is no Singapore stamp duty payable in respect of the issuance or holding of our ordinary shares. Singapore stamp duty will be payable if there is an instrument of transfer executed in Singapore or if there is an instrument of transfer executed outside of Singapore which is received in Singapore. Under Singapore law, stamp duty is not applicable to electronic transfers of our shares effected on a book entry basis. We therefore expect that no Singapore stamp duty will be payable in respect of ordinary shares purchased by U.S. holders in this offering assuming that they are acquired in book entry form through the facility established by our transfer agent and registrar. Where shares evidenced in certificated form are transferred and an instrument of transfer is executed between the parties, Singapore stamp duty is payable on an instrument of transfer of the shares at the rate of S$0.20 for every S$100 or part thereof of the consideration for, or market value of, the shares, whichever is

 

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higher. The Singapore stamp duty is borne by the purchaser unless there is an agreement to the contrary. Where the instrument of transfer is executed outside of Singapore, Singapore stamp duty must be paid within 30 days of receipt in Singapore if the instrument of transfer is received in Singapore.

Estate Duty

Singapore estate duty has been abolished with effect from February 15, 2008 in relation to the estate of any person whose death has occurred on or after February 15, 2008.

Tax Treaties Regarding Withholding Taxes

There is no comprehensive avoidance of double taxation agreement between the United States and Singapore which applies to withholding taxes on dividends or capital gains.

 

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UNDERWRITING

Avago Technologies Limited, the selling shareholders and the underwriter listed below have entered into an underwriting agreement with respect to the shares being offered. Subject to certain conditions, the underwriter has agreed to purchase the following respective number of ordinary shares at a price of $         per share.

 

Underwriter		Number of Shares
Citigroup Global Markets Inc.			21,490,022
Total			21,490,022

The underwriting agreement provides that the obligation of the underwriter to purchase the ordinary shares offered hereby is subject to certain conditions precedent and that the underwriter will purchase all of the ordinary shares offered by this prospectus supplement if any of these shares are purchased.

The underwriter proposes to offer the ordinary shares offered hereby from time to time for sale in one or more transactions on The Nasdaq Global Select Market, in the over-the-counter market, through negotiated transactions or otherwise at market prices prevailing at the time of sale, at prices related to prevailing market prices or at negotiated prices, subject to receipt and acceptance by the underwriter and its right to reject any order in whole or in part. The underwriter may effect such transactions by selling the ordinary shares to or through dealers and such dealers may receive compensation in the form of discounts, concessions or commissions from the underwriter and/or purchasers of ordinary shares for whom they may act as agents or to whom they may sell as principal. The difference between the price at which the underwriter purchases shares and the price at which the underwriter resells such shares may be deemed underwriting compensation.

The underwriter may receive from purchasers of the shares normal brokerage commissions in amounts agreed with such purchasers.

In addition, we and the selling shareholders estimate that the total expenses of this offering payable by us will be approximately $400,000. We will pay all expenses of this offering, including expenses of the selling shareholders pursuant to the Registration Rights Agreement described under “Description of Share Capital — Registration Rights Agreement” in the accompanying prospectus, other than the underwriting discounts and commissions attributable to shares sold by the selling shareholders.

We and the selling shareholders have agreed to indemnify the underwriter against some specified types of liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, and to contribute to payments the underwriter may be required to make in respect of any of these liabilities.

Each of the selling shareholders, other than our President and Chief Executive Officer, have agreed that, without the prior written consent of the underwriter, they will not directly or indirectly, (1) offer for sale, sell, pledge, or otherwise dispose of (or enter into any transaction or device that is designed to, or could be expected to, result in the disposition by any person at any time in the future of) any ordinary shares (including, without limitation, ordinary shares that may be deemed to be beneficially owned by them in accordance with the rules and regulations of the SEC and ordinary shares that may be issued upon exercise of any options) or securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for ordinary shares, (2) enter into any swap or other derivatives transaction that transfers to another, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of the ordinary shares, (3) make any demand for or exercise any right or file or cause to be filed a registration statement, including any amendments thereto, with respect to the registration of any ordinary shares or securities convertible, exercisable or exchangeable into ordinary shares or any of our other securities, or (4) publicly disclose the intention to do any of the foregoing for a period of 30 days after the date of this prospectus supplement (the “Lock-Up Period”), subject to certain exceptions. We have entered into a similar agreement with the underwriter. Such exceptions permit each of the selling shareholders to enter into a written plan meeting the requirements of Rule 10b5-1(c) under the Exchange Act, provided that no sales of our securities may occur under such plan during the Lock-Up Period and the transfer by certain selling shareholders of up to approximately 130,000 shares in the aggregate for the purposes of facilitating bona fide gifts of ordinary shares to be made by certain officers of the general partners of such selling shareholders. Another such exception to our lock-up

 

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agreement covers the issuance by us of ordinary shares in an amount up to an aggregate of 15% of the sum of our fully-diluted ordinary shares outstanding as of the date of the prospectus supplement, in exchange for the assets or equity of another entity in connection with the acquisition by us of, or joint venture with, such entity, provided, however, that the recipient of any such shares agrees in writing to be bound by the lock-up restrictions described herein. The consent of the underwriter may be given at any time without public notice to the extent permitted by applicable law. There are no agreements between the underwriter and any of our securityholders or affiliates releasing them from these lock-up agreements prior to the expiration of the Lock-Up Period.

In connection with the offering, the underwriter may purchase and sell our ordinary shares in the open market, in accordance with Regulation M under the Exchange Act where applicable. These transactions may include short sales, purchases to cover positions created by short sales and stabilizing transactions. If the underwriter commences these activities, it may discontinue them at any time.

Short sales involve the sale by the underwriter of a greater number of shares than it is required to purchase in the offering. Covered short sales are sales made in an amount not greater than the number of ordinary shares that the underwriter is required to purchase from the selling shareholders in the offering. The underwriter may close out any covered short position by purchasing shares in the open market. Naked short sales are any sales in excess of the underwriter’s obligation to purchase ordinary shares in this offering. The underwriter must close out any naked short position by purchasing shares in the open market. A naked short position is more likely to be created if the underwriter is concerned that there may be downward pressure on the price of the shares in the open market prior to the completion of the offering.

Stabilizing transactions consist of various bids for or purchases of our ordinary shares made by the underwriter in the open market prior to the completion of the offering.

Purchases to cover a short position and stabilizing transactions, as well as other purchases by the underwriter for its own account, may have the effect of preventing or slowing a decline in the market price of our ordinary shares. Additionally, these purchases, along with the imposition of the penalty bid, may stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the market price of our ordinary shares. As a result, the price of our ordinary shares may be higher than the price that might otherwise exist in the open market. These transactions may be effected on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, in the over-the-counter market or otherwise.

A prospectus supplement in electronic format may be made available on Internet web sites maintained by the underwriter of this offering. Other than the prospectus supplement in electronic format, the information on the underwriter’s web site and any information contained in any other web site maintained by the underwriter is not part of the prospectus supplement or the registration statement of which the prospectus supplement forms a part.

The underwriter and its affiliates have, from time to time, performed, and may in the future perform, various financial advisory, investment banking, commercial banking and other services for us for which they received or will receive customary fees and expenses.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc. acted as joint lead arranger and joint bookrunner for our credit agreement, an affiliate of Citigroup Global Markets Inc. is a lender under our credit agreement, and an affiliate of Citigroup Global Markets Inc. is administrative agent under our credit agreement.

Stamp Taxes

Stamp taxes will not be imposed by the United States on investors in connection with the purchase of ordinary shares in this offering.

 

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There is no Singapore stamp duty payable in respect of the issuance or holding of our ordinary shares. Singapore stamp duty will be payable if there is an instrument of transfer executed in Singapore or if there is an instrument of transfer executed outside of Singapore which is received in Singapore. Under Singapore law, stamp duty is not applicable to electronic transfers of our shares effected on a book entry basis. We therefore expect that no Singapore stamp duty will be payable in respect of ordinary shares purchased by U.S. holders in this offering assuming that they are acquired in book entry form through the facility established by our transfer agent and registrar. Where shares evidenced in certificated form are transferred and an instrument of transfer is executed between the parties, Singapore stamp duty is payable on an instrument of transfer of the shares at the rate of S$0.20 for every S$100 or part thereof of the consideration for, or market value of, the shares, whichever is higher. The Singapore stamp duty is borne by the purchaser unless there is an agreement to the contrary. Where the instrument of transfer is executed outside of Singapore, Singapore stamp duty must be paid within 30 days of receipt in Singapore if the instrument of transfer is received in Singapore.

Selling Restrictions

European Economic Area

In relation to each member state of the European Economic Area that has implemented the Prospectus Directive (each, a “relevant member state”), with effect from and including the date on which the Prospectus Directive is implemented in that relevant member state (the “relevant implementation date”), an offer of securities described in this prospectus supplement may not be made to the public in that relevant member state other than:

 

Ÿ

to any legal entity that is a qualified investor as defined in the Prospectus Directive;

 

Ÿ

to fewer than 100 or, if the relevant member state has implemented the relevant provision of the 2010 PD Amending Directive, 150 natural or legal persons (other than “qualified investors” as defined in the Prospectus Directive) subject to obtaining the prior consent of the representatives; or

 

Ÿ

in any other circumstances that do not require the publication of a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Directive,

provided that no such offer of securities shall require us or the underwriter to publish a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Directive.

For purposes of this provision, the expression an “offer of securities to the public” in relation to any securities in any relevant member state means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the securities to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe for the securities, as the same may be varied in that member state by any measure implementing the Prospectus Directive in that member state (and amendments thereto, including the 2010 PD Amending Directive, to the extent implemented in that member state), and the expression “Prospectus Directive” means Directive 2003/71/EC and includes any relevant implementing measure in each relevant member state, and the expression “2010 PD Amending Directive” means Directive 2010/73/EU.

We have not authorized and do not authorize the making of any offer of securities through any financial intermediary on their behalf, other than offers made by the underwriter with a view to the final placement of the securities as contemplated in this prospectus supplement. Accordingly, no purchaser of the securities, other than the underwriter, is authorized to make any further offer of the securities on behalf of us or the underwriter.

United Kingdom

This prospectus supplement is only being distributed to, and is only directed at, persons in the United Kingdom that are qualified investors within the meaning of Article 2(1)(e) of the Prospectus Directive (“qualified investors”) that also (i) have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended, or the Order, (ii) who fall within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order or (iii) to whom it may otherwise lawfully be communicated (all such persons together being referred to as “relevant persons”). The ordinary shares are only

 

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available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to purchase or otherwise acquire such ordinary shares will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. This prospectus supplement and its contents are confidential and should not be distributed, published or reproduced (in whole or in part) or disclosed by recipients to any other person in the United Kingdom. Any person in the United Kingdom that is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this document or any of its contents.

Australia

No prospectus or other disclosure document (as defined in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) of Australia (“Corporations Act”)) in relation to the ordinary shares has been or will be lodged with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (“ASIC”). This document has not been lodged with ASIC and is only directed to certain categories of exempt persons. Accordingly, if you receive this document in Australia:

(a)  you confirm and warrant that you are either:

(i)  a “sophisticated investor” under section 708(8)(a) or (b) of the Corporations Act;

(ii)  a “sophisticated investor” under section 708(8)(c) or (d) of the Corporations Act and that you have provided an accountant’s certificate to us which complies with the requirements of section 708(8)(c)(i) or (ii) of the Corporations Act and related regulations before the offer has been made;

(iii)  a person associated with the company under section 708(12) of the Corporations Act; or

(iv)  a “professional investor” within the meaning of section 708(11)(a) or (b) of the Corporations Act,

and to the extent that you are unable to confirm or warrant that you are an exempt sophisticated investor, associated person or professional investor under the Corporations Act any offer made to you under this document is void and incapable of acceptance; and

(b) you warrant and agree that you will not offer any of the ordinary shares for resale in Australia within 12 months of those ordinary shares being issued unless any such resale offer is exempt from the requirement to issue a disclosure document under section 708 of the Corporations Act.

Hong Kong

The ordinary shares may not be offered or sold in Hong Kong, by means of any document, other than (a) to “professional investors” as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571, Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made under that Ordinance or (b) in other circumstances which do not result in the document being a “prospectus” as defined in the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32, Laws of Hong Kong) or which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of that Ordinance. No advertisement, invitation or document relating to the ordinary shares may be issued or may be in the possession of any person for the purpose of the issue, whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere, which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be read by, the public in Hong Kong (except if permitted to do so under the laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to the ordinary shares which are intended to be disposed of only to persons outside Hong Kong or only to “professional investors” as defined in the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571, Laws of Hong Kong) or any rules made under that Ordinance.

India

This prospectus supplement has not been and will not be registered as a prospectus with the Registrar of Companies in India or with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. This prospectus supplement or any other material relating to these securities is for information purposes only and may not be circulated or distributed, directly or indirectly, to the public or any members of the public in India and in any event to not more than 50 persons in India.

Further, persons into whose possession this prospectus supplement comes are required to inform themselves about and to observe any such restrictions. Each prospective investor is advised to consult its advisors about the

 

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particular consequences to it of an investment in these securities. Each prospective investor is also advised that any investment in these securities by it is subject to the regulations prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India and the Foreign Exchange Management Act and any regulations framed thereunder.

Japan

No registration has been made under Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law of Japan (Law No. 25 of 1948, as amended) (“FIEL”) in relation to the offering of the shares. The shares are being offered in a private placement to up to 49 investors under Article 2, Paragraph 3, Item 2 iii of the FIEL.

Korea

The ordinary shares may not be offered, sold and delivered directly or indirectly, or offered or sold to any person for reoffering or resale, directly or indirectly, in Korea or to any resident of Korea except pursuant to the applicable laws and regulations of Korea, including the Korea Securities and Exchange Act and the Foreign Exchange Transaction Law and the decrees and regulations thereunder. The ordinary shares have not been registered with the Financial Services Commission of Korea for public offering in Korea. Furthermore, the ordinary shares may not be resold to Korean residents unless the purchaser of the ordinary shares complies with all applicable regulatory requirements (including but not limited to government approval requirements under the Foreign Exchange Transaction Law and its subordinate decrees and regulations) in connection with the purchase of the ordinary shares.

Singapore

This prospectus supplement has not been and will not be lodged with or registered as a prospectus by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, this document and any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of the ordinary shares may not be circulated or distributed, nor may the ordinary shares be offered or sold, or be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, whether directly or indirectly, to persons in Singapore other than: (i) to an institutional investor under Section 274 of the Securities and Futures Act (Chapter 289) of Singapore (the “SFA”); (ii) to a relevant person pursuant to Section 275(1) of the SFA, or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A) of the SFA, and in accordance with the conditions specified in Section 275 of the SFA; or (iii) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the SFA.

Where the ordinary shares are subscribed or purchased under Section 275 of the SFA by a relevant person which is:

(a)  a corporation (which is not an accredited investor (as defined in Section 4A of the SFA)) the sole business of which is to hold investments and the entire share capital of which is owned by one or more individuals, each of whom is an accredited investor; or

(b)  a trust (where the trustee is not an accredited investor) whose sole purpose is to hold investments and each beneficiary of the trust is an individual who is an accredited investor,

securities (as defined in Section 239(1) of the SFA) of that corporation or the beneficiaries’ rights and interest (howsoever described) in that trust shall not be transferable for six months after that corporation or that trust has acquired the ordinary shares pursuant to an offer made under Section 275 of the SFA except:

(1)  to an institutional investor under Section 274 of the SFA or to a relevant person defined in Section 275(2) of the SFA, or to any person arising from an offer referred to in Section 275(1A) or Section 276(4)(i)(B) of the SFA;

(2)  where no consideration is given for the transfer; or

(3)  where the transfer is by operation of law.

 

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Taiwan

The shares may be made available to investors in Taiwan but will not be offered or sold in Taiwan except as permitted by applicable law of the Republic of China.

By accepting this prospectus supplement, the recipient hereof represents and warrants that he is entitled to receive it in accordance with the restrictions set forth above and agrees to be bound by the limitations contained herein. Any failure to comply with these limitations may constitute a violation of law.

 

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LEGAL MATTERS

Certain legal matters relating to the issuance and sale of the securities with respect to Singapore law will be passed upon for us by WongPartnership LLP. Certain legal matters relating to the issuance and sale of the securities with respect to U.S. law will be passed upon for us by Latham & Watkins LLP, Menlo Park, California. Partners of Latham & Watkins LLP, members of their respective families, related persons and others have an indirect interest, through limited partnerships that are investors in funds affiliated with KKR, in less than 1% of our ordinary shares. Certain legal matters in connection with this offering will be passed upon for the underwriter by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, Palo Alto, California, and Allen & Gledhill LLP, Singapore with respect to Singapore Law. Certain partners of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, members of their respective families, related persons and others have an indirect interest, through limited partnerships that are investors in funds affiliated with KKR and Silver Lake, in less than 1% of our ordinary shares.

EXPERTS

The consolidated financial statements and management’s assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting (which is included in Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting) incorporated in this prospectus supplement by reference to the Annual Report on Form 10-K of Avago Technologies Limited for the year ended October 30, 2011 have been so incorporated in reliance on the report of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, given on the authority of said firm as experts in auditing and accounting.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION

This prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus is a part of a registration statement on Form S-3 that we filed with the SEC, but the registration statement includes additional information and also attaches exhibits that are referenced in this prospectus supplement. This prospectus supplement does not contain all of the information set forth in the registration statement and the exhibits and schedules thereto. Some items are omitted in accordance with the rules and regulations of the SEC. For further information with respect to us and the securities offered hereby, we refer you to the registration statement and the exhibits and schedules filed therewith. Statements contained in this prospectus supplement as to the contents of any contract, agreement or any other document referred to are summaries of the material terms of the respective contract, agreement or other document. With respect to each of these contracts, agreements or other documents filed as an exhibit to the registration statement, reference is made to the exhibits for a more complete description of the matter involved. A copy of the registration statement, and the exhibits and schedules thereto, may be inspected without charge at the public reference facilities maintained by the SEC at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Copies of these materials may be obtained by writing to the Public Reference Section of the SEC at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the operation of the public reference facilities. The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding registrants that file electronically with the SEC. The address of the SEC’s website is http://www.sec.gov.

We are subject to the information and periodic reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, and, in accordance therewith, file periodic reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Such periodic reports, proxy statements and other information are available for inspection and copying at the public reference room and website of the SEC referred to above. We maintain a website at www.avagotech.com. You may access our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act with the SEC free of charge at our website as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. The reference to our website address does not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained on our website.

 

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INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The SEC allows us to “incorporate by reference” information in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus that we have filed with it. This means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to another document already on file with the SEC. The information that we file later with the SEC will automatically update and supersede this information.

This prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus incorporate by reference the documents listed below that we have previously filed and any future filings we make with the SEC under Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act between the date of this prospectus supplement and the termination of the offering (excluding any document, or portion thereof, to the extent such document or portion thereof is furnished and not filed):

 

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Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 30, 2011;

 

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Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended January 29, 2012, April 29, 2012 and July 29, 2012;

 

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Current Reports on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on January 20, 2012, April 5, 2012, August 10, 2012 and November 30, 2012; and

 

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The description of our ordinary shares contained in our Registration Statement on Form 8-A (Commission File No. 001-34428), filed with the SEC on August 3, 2009, including any subsequent amendment or any report filed for the purpose of updating such description.

Any statement contained in a document incorporated by reference or deemed incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus will be deemed to be modified or superseded for the purposes of this prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus to the extent that a later statement contained in this prospectus supplement or in any other document incorporated by reference or deemed incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus modifies or supersedes the earlier statement. Any statement so modified or superseded will not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this prospectus supplement or the accompanying base prospectus.

We will provide to each person, including any beneficial owners, to whom a prospectus supplement is delivered, a copy of the reports and documents that have been incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement, at no cost. Any such request may be made by writing or telephoning us at the following address or phone number:

Avago Technologies Limited

Attn: Investor Relations

c/o Avago Technologies U.S. Inc.

350 West Trimble Road, Building 90

San Jose, California 95131 U.S.A.

Telephone: +1 (408) 435-7400

These documents can also be requested through, and are available in, the Investors section of our website, which is located at www.avagotech.com, or as described under “Where You Can Find Additional Information” above. The reference to our website address does not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained on our website.

 

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PROSPECTUS

 

Ordinary Shares

Debt Securities

Warrants

Rights

Purchase Contracts

Units

From time to time, we or certain selling securityholders may offer the securities described in this prospectus separately or together in any combination, in one or more classes or series, in amounts, at prices and on terms that we will determine at the time of the offering.

We will provide the specific terms of these offerings and securities in supplements to this prospectus. You should read carefully this prospectus, the information incorporated by reference in this prospectus, any prospectus supplement and any free writing prospectus before you invest. This prospectus may not be used to offer or sell any securities unless accompanied by a prospectus supplement.

Our ordinary shares are listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “AVGO.”

INVESTING IN OUR SECURITIES INVOLVES A HIGH DEGREE OF RISK. RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH AN INVESTMENT IN OUR SECURITIES WILL BE DESCRIBED IN THE APPLICABLE PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT AND/OR CERTAIN OF OUR FILINGS WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, AS DESCRIBED UNDER “RISK FACTORS” ON PAGE 1.

We may offer and sell the securities directly, through agents we select from time to time or to or through underwriters or dealers we select, or through a combination of these methods. In addition, certain selling securityholders may offer and sell our securities from time to time, together or separately. We will provide specific information about any selling securityholders in one or more supplements to this prospectus. If we or the selling securityholders use any agents, underwriters or dealers to sell the securities, we will name them and describe their compensation in a prospectus supplement. The price to the public of those securities and the net proceeds we or any selling securityholders expect to receive from that sale will also be set forth in a prospectus supplement.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

 

The date of this prospectus is August 6, 2010.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS			ii
RISK FACTORS			1
WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION			1
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE			1
SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS			2
ENFORCEMENT OF CIVIL LIABILITIES UNDER UNITED STATES FEDERAL SECURITIES LAWS			4
OUR COMPANY			5
RATIO OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES			6
USE OF PROCEEDS			6
DESCRIPTION OF SHARE CAPITAL			6
COMPARISON OF SHAREHOLDER RIGHTS			15
DESCRIPTION OF DEBT SECURITIES			26
DESCRIPTION OF WARRANTS			33
DESCRIPTION OF RIGHTS			36
DESCRIPTION OF PURCHASE CONTRACTS			37
DESCRIPTION OF UNITS			38
GLOBAL SECURITIES			39
SELLING SECURITYHOLDERS			41
PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION			41
LEGAL MATTERS			43
EXPERTS			43

Important Notice About the Information Presented In This Prospectus

You should rely only on the information we have provided or incorporated by reference in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with different information. If anyone provides you with different or inconsistent information, you should not rely on it. This prospectus does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase, the securities offered by this prospectus in any jurisdiction to or from any person to whom or from whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation of an offer in such jurisdiction. You should assume that the information in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement is accurate only as of the date on the front of the document and that any information we have incorporated by reference is accurate only as of the date of the document incorporated by reference, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or any sale of a security. Our business, financial condition and results of operations may have changed since that date.

 

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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

This prospectus is part of a registration statement that we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, using a “shelf” registration process. Under this shelf registration process, we are registering an unspecified amount of each class of the securities described in this prospectus, and we may sell any combination of the securities described in this prospectus in one or more offerings. This prospectus provides you with a general description of the securities we or any selling securityholder may offer. Each time we use this prospectus to offer securities, we will provide a prospectus supplement that will contain specific information about the terms of that offering. To the extent that this prospectus is used by any securityholder to resell any securities, information with respect to the securityholder and the terms of the securities being offered will be contained in a prospectus supplement. Any prospectus supplement may also add, update or change information contained in this prospectus or in documents we have incorporated by reference into this prospectus. If there is any inconsistency between the information in this prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement, you should rely on the information in the prospectus supplement. This prospectus, together with the applicable prospectus supplements, any applicable free writing prospectuses and the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus, includes all material information relating to the securities we may offer or any selling securityholder may offer. Please carefully read both this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement and any applicable free writing prospectus, together with the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus described below under the heading “Where You Can Find More Information,” before making a decision to purchase any of our securities.

The prospectus supplement will describe: the specific terms of the securities offered, any initial public offering price, the price paid to us for the securities, the net proceeds to us, the manner of distribution and any underwriting compensation, and the other specific material terms related to the offering of the securities. The prospectus supplement may also contain information, where applicable, about material United States federal income tax considerations relating to the securities.

This prospectus contains summaries of certain provisions contained in some of the documents described herein, but reference is made to the actual documents for complete information. All of the summaries are qualified in their entirety by the actual documents. Copies of the documents referred to herein have been filed, or will be filed or incorporated by reference as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and you may obtain copies of those documents as described below under “Where You Can Find More Information.”

This prospectus has not been and will not be registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, this prospectus and any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for the subscription or purchase, of any of the securities registered hereby may not be circulated or distributed, nor may any of the securities registered hereby be offered or sold, or be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, whether directly or indirectly, to persons in Singapore.

As used in this prospectus, “Avago,” “Company,” “we,” “our,” “us” or “Successor” refer to Avago Technologies Limited and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis, unless otherwise indicated. As used in this prospectus, “Predecessor” refers to the Semiconductor Products Group, or SPG, of Agilent Technologies, Inc., or Agilent.

 

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RISK FACTORS

Investing in our securities involves risks. Before you make a decision to buy our securities, in addition to the risks and uncertainties discussed below under “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” you should carefully consider the specific risks set forth under the caption “Risk Factors” in any applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus and under the caption “Risk Factors” in our filings with the SEC pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, incorporated by reference herein and/or included in any prospectus supplement, before making an investment decision. Additionally, the risks and uncertainties discussed in this prospectus or in any document incorporated by reference into this prospectus are not the only risks and uncertainties that we face, and our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations and the market price of any securities we may sell could be materially adversely affected by other matters that are not known to us or that we currently do not consider to be material.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION

This prospectus is a part of a registration statement on Form S-3 that we filed with the SEC, but the registration statement includes additional information and also attaches exhibits that are referenced in this prospectus. This prospectus does not contain all of the information set forth in the registration statement and the exhibits and schedules thereto. Some items are omitted in accordance with the rules and regulations of the SEC. For further information with respect to us and the securities offered hereby, we refer you to the registration statement and the exhibits and schedules filed therewith. Statements contained in this prospectus as to the contents of any contract, agreement or any other document referred to are summaries of the material terms of the respective contract, agreement or other document. With respect to each of these contracts, agreements or other documents filed as an exhibit to the registration statement, reference is made to the exhibits for a more complete description of the matter involved. A copy of the registration statement, and the exhibits and schedules thereto, may be inspected without charge at the public reference facilities maintained by the SEC at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Copies of these materials may be obtained by writing to the Public Reference Section of the SEC at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the operation of the public reference facilities. The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding registrants that file electronically with the SEC. The address of the SEC’s website is http://www.sec.gov.

We are subject to the information and periodic reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and, in accordance therewith, file periodic reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Such periodic reports, proxy statements and other information are available for inspection and copying at the public reference room and website of the SEC referred to above. We maintain a website at www.avagotech.com. You may access our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act with the SEC free of charge at our website as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. The reference to our website address does not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained on our website.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The SEC allows us to “incorporate by reference” information in this prospectus that we have filed with it. This means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to another document already on file with the SEC. The information that we file later with the SEC will automatically update and supersede this information.

This prospectus incorporates by reference the documents listed below that we have previously filed with the SEC and any future filings we make with the SEC under Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act

 

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between the date of this prospectus and the termination of the offering (excluding any document, or portion thereof, to the extent such document or portion thereof is furnished and not filed):

 

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Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended November 1, 2009, filed with the SEC on December 15, 2009 and Amendment to Annual Report on Form 10-K/A, filed with the SEC on January 15, 2010;

 

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Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended January 31, 2010, filed with the SEC on March 4, 2010;

 

Ÿ

Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended May 2, 2010, filed with the SEC on June 3, 2010;

 

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Current Reports on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on December 7, 2009 (as amended by the Current Report on Form 8-K/A filed on January 25, 2010), March 26, 2010, April 1, 2010, April 19, 2010 and July 2, 2010; and

 

Ÿ

The description of our ordinary shares contained in our Registration Statement on Form 8-A (Commission File No. 001-34428), filed with the SEC on August 3, 2009, including any subsequent amendment or any report filed for the purpose of updating such description.

Any statement contained in a document incorporated by reference or deemed incorporated by reference into this prospectus will be deemed to be modified or superseded for the purposes of this prospectus to the extent that a later statement contained in this prospectus or in any other document incorporated by reference or deemed incorporated by reference into this prospectus modifies or supersedes the earlier statement. Any statement so modified or superseded will not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this prospectus.

We will provide to each person, including any beneficial owners, to whom a prospectus is delivered, a copy of the reports and documents that have been incorporated by reference into this prospectus, at no cost. Any such request may be made by writing or telephoning us at the following address or phone number:

Avago Technologies Limited

Attn: Investor Relations

c/o Avago Technologies U.S. Inc.

350 West Trimble Road, Building 90

San Jose, California 95131 U.S.A.

Telephone: +1 (408) 435-7400

These documents can also be requested through, and are available in, the Investors section of our website, which is located at www.avagotech.com, or as described under “Where You Can Find Additional Information” above. The reference to our website address does not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained on our website.

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus and documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus and any prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which involve risks and uncertainties. You can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “believe,” “expect,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seek,” “approximately,” “intend,” “plan,” “estimate,” or “anticipate” or similar expressions that concern our strategy, plans or intentions. All statements other than statements of historical fact could be deemed forward-looking, including, but not limited to, any projections of financial information; any statements about historical results that may suggest trends for our business; any statements of the plans, strategies and

 

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objectives of management for future operations; any statements of expectation or belief regarding future events, technology developments, or enforceability of our intellectual property rights; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. All statements we make relating to estimated and projected earnings, margins, costs, expenditures, cash flows, growth rates and financial results are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections of future Company or industry performance based on management’s judgment, beliefs, current trends and market conditions and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. We derive most of our forward-looking statements from our operating budgets and forecasts, which are based upon many detailed assumptions. While we believe that our assumptions are reasonable, we caution that it is very difficult to predict the impact of known factors, and, of course, it is impossible for us to anticipate all factors that could affect our actual results. Accordingly, we caution you not to place undue reliance on these statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations are disclosed under “Risk Factors,” elsewhere in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus, or incorporated by reference into this prospectus or any prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus, including, without limitation, in conjunction with the forward-looking statements included in this prospectus and any prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus. Some of the factors that we believe could affect our results include:

 

Ÿ

the recent economic downturn and financial crisis and their impact on our business, results of operations, and financial condition;

 

Ÿ

cyclicality in the semiconductor industry or in our target markets;

 

Ÿ

quarterly and annual fluctuations in operating results;

 

Ÿ

our ability to adapt to technological changes in the semiconductor industry;

 

Ÿ

our dependence on contract manufacturing and outsourced supply chain and our ability to improve our cost structure through our manufacturing outsourcing program;

 

Ÿ

inability to continuously improve manufacturing efficiency and quality;

 

Ÿ

our competitive performance and ability to continue achieving design wins with our customers;

 

Ÿ

our ability to protect our intellectual property, defending against third-party intellectual property claims and associated increases in litigation expenditures;

 

Ÿ

investment in research and development;

 

Ÿ

departure of key senior managers and the ability to retain and attract key personnel;

 

Ÿ

any expenses or reputational damage associated with resolving customer product and warranty claims and product recalls;

 

Ÿ

loss of one or more of our significant customers;

 

Ÿ

our increased dependence on outsourced service providers for certain key business services and their ability to execute to our requirements;

 

Ÿ

risks relating to the transaction of business internationally;

 

Ÿ

currency fluctuations;

 

Ÿ

the effects of war, terrorism, natural disasters or other catastrophic events;

 

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prolonged disruptions of our manufacturing facilities;

 

Ÿ

our ability to maintain tax concessions in certain jurisdictions;

 

Ÿ

changes in tax laws;

 

Ÿ

our ability to achieve the growth prospects and synergies expected from our acquisitions and delays and challenges associated with integrating acquired companies with our existing businesses;

 

Ÿ

the effects of government regulation on our business;

 

Ÿ

dependence on and risks associated with distributors of our products;

 

Ÿ

our ability to generate cash sufficient to fund our research and development, capital expenditures and other business needs and to service our debt;

 

Ÿ

our indebtedness;

 

Ÿ

certain covenants in our debt documents; and

 

Ÿ

other events and trends on a national, regional and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive and regulatory nature.

All of the forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by reference to the factors listed above and those discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus and/or in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, Item 1A under the heading “Risk Factors” and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and in our other filings with the SEC that are incorporated by reference in this prospectus or any accompanying prospectus supplement. In addition, there may be other factors of which we are not currently aware that may affect matters discussed in the forward-looking statements, and may also cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed. All forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to us. All of our forward-looking statements, including those included and incorporated by reference in this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement, are qualified in their entirety by this statement.

We caution you that the foregoing list of important factors may not contain all of the material factors that are important to you. In addition, in light of these risks and uncertainties, the matters referred to in the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement or incorporated by reference into this prospectus or any prospectus supplement may not in fact occur. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law.

You should carefully read this prospectus, any prospectus supplement, any free writing prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference in their entirety. They contain information that you should consider when making your investment decision.

ENFORCEMENT OF CIVIL LIABILITIES UNDER

UNITED STATES FEDERAL SECURITIES LAWS

We are incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Singapore, and certain of our officers and directors are or will be residents outside the United States. Moreover, a majority of our consolidated assets are located outside the United States. Although we are incorporated outside the United States, we have agreed to accept service of process in the United States through our agent designated for that purpose. Nevertheless, since a majority of the consolidated assets owned by us are located outside the United States, any judgment obtained in the

 

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United States against us may not be collectible within the United States. There is no treaty between the United States and Singapore providing for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters and a final judgment for the payment of money rendered by any federal or state court in the United States based on civil liability, whether or not predicated solely upon the federal securities laws, would, therefore, not be automatically enforceable in Singapore. There is doubt whether a Singapore court may impose civil liability on us or our directors and officers who reside in Singapore in a suit brought in the Singapore courts against us or such persons with respect to a violation solely of the federal securities laws of the United States, unless the facts surrounding such a violation would constitute or give rise to a cause of action under Singapore law. Consequently, it may be difficult for investors to enforce against us, our directors or our officers in Singapore judgments obtained in the United States which are predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the federal securities laws of the United States.

OUR COMPANY

We are a leading designer, developer and global supplier of a broad range of analog semiconductor devices with a focus on III-V based products. We differentiate ourselves through our high performance design and integration capabilities. III-V semiconductor materials have higher electrical conductivity, enabling faster speeds and tend to have better performance characteristics than conventional silicon in applications such as radio frequency, or RF, and optoelectronics. III-V refers to elements from those groups in the periodic table of chemical elements, and examples of these materials are gallium arsenide (GaAs), gallium nitride (GaN) and indium phosphide (InP). Our product portfolio is extensive and includes over 6,500 products in four primary target markets: wireless communications, wired infrastructure, industrial and automotive electronics, and consumer and computing peripherals. Applications for our products in these target markets include cellular phones, consumer appliances, data networking and telecommunications equipment, enterprise storage and servers, factory automation, displays, optical mice and printers.

We have an almost 50-year history of innovation dating back to our origins within Hewlett-Packard Company. Over the years, we have assembled a large team of analog design engineers, and we maintain design and product development engineering resources around the world. Our locations include two design centers in the United States, five in Asia and four in Europe. We have developed an extensive portfolio of intellectual property that currently includes more than 5,000 U.S. and foreign patents and patent applications.

We have a diversified and well-established customer base of approximately 40,000 end customers which we serve through our multi-channel sales and fulfillment system. We distribute most of our products through our broad distribution network, and a significant portion of our sales are to two of the largest global electronic components distributors, Avnet, Inc. and Arrow Electronics, Inc. We also have a direct sales force focused on supporting large original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs. For the year ended November 1, 2009, our top 10 customers, which included four distributors, collectively accounted for 60% of our net revenue. During the six months ended May 2, 2010, our top 10 customers, which included five distributors, collectively accounted for 58% of our net revenue.

We focus on maintaining an efficient global supply chain and a variable, low-cost operating model. Accordingly, we have outsourced a majority of our manufacturing operations. We have over 40 years of operating history in Asia, where approximately 60% of our employees are located and where we produce and source the majority of our products. Our presence in Asia places us in close proximity to many of our customers and at the center of worldwide electronics manufacturing.

Avago Technologies Limited was incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Singapore in August 2005. Our Singapore company registration number is 200510713C. The address of our registered office and our principal executive offices is 1 Yishun Avenue 7, Singapore 768923, and our telephone number is +65-6755-7888. We are the successor to the Semiconductor Products Group of Agilent, which we acquired on December 1, 2005 in a transaction that we refer to in this prospectus as the SPG Acquisition. All of our operations are conducted through our various subsidiaries, which are organized and operated according to the laws of their country of incorporation, and consolidated by Avago Technologies Limited.

 

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Our website address is www.avagotech.com. The information on, or accessible through, our website is not part of this prospectus.

RATIO OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES

(in millions, except ratio data)

 

		Predecessor										Company
		Year Ended October  31, 2005				One  Month Ended November  30, 2005						Year Ended																Six  Months Ended May 2, 2010
												October 31, 2006				October 31, 2007				November 2, 2008				November 1, 2009
Fixed charges(1)
Interest expense		$	—			$	—					$	121			$	105			$	82			$	73			$	18
Amortization of debt issuance costs			—				—						22				4				4				4				1
Portion of rental expense representative of interest(2)			6				1						4				3				4				4				2
Total fixed charges		$	6			$	1					$	147			$	112			$	90			$	81			$	21
Earnings
Income (loss) from continuing operations before income taxes		$	14			$	(23	)				$	(225	)		$	(212	)		$	60			$	(36	)		$	141
Fixed charges per above			6				1						147				112				90				81				21
Total earnings		$	20			$	(22	)				$	(78	)		$	(100	)		$	150			$	45			$	162
Deficiency of earnings to fixed charges		$	—			$	(23	)				$	(225	)		$	(212	)		$	—			$	(36	)		$	—
Ratio of earnings to fixed charges(3)			3.3				—						—				—				1.7				—				7.7

 

(1)

For purposes of computing this ratio of earnings to fixed charges, “fixed charges” consist of interest expense on all indebtedness plus amortization of debt issuance costs and an estimate of interest expense within rental expense. “Earnings” consist of pre-tax income (loss) from continuing operations plus fixed charges.

 

(2)	The Company uses one-third of rental expense as an estimation of the interest factor on its rental expense.

 

(3)	Earnings were insufficient to cover fixed charges by $23 million, $225 million, $212 million, and $36 million for the one month ended November 30, 2005, the fiscal years ended October 31, 2006, October 31, 2007 and November 1, 2009, respectively.

USE OF PROCEEDS

Unless otherwise provided in a prospectus supplement, we intend to use the net proceeds from the sale of our securities under this prospectus for our general corporate purposes. We will not receive any of the proceeds from sales of securities by selling securityholders, if any, pursuant to this prospectus.

DESCRIPTION OF SHARE CAPITAL

General

As of May 2, 2010, we had:

 

Ÿ

238,586,390 ordinary shares outstanding held by approximately 52 shareholders of record; and

 

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22,006,795 ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of outstanding options.

The following description of our share capital, together with the additional information we include in any applicable prospectus supplement, summarizes the material terms and provisions of the ordinary shares that we may offer from time to time pursuant to this prospectus. While the terms we have summarized below will apply generally to any future ordinary shares that we may offer, we will describe the particular terms of any offering in more detail in the applicable prospectus supplement. The following description of our share capital and provisions of our memorandum and articles of association are summaries and are qualified by reference to the memorandum and articles of association, copies of which have been previously filed with the SEC.

Ordinary Shares

We currently have only one class of issued shares, which have identical rights in all respects and rank equally with one another. Our ordinary shares have no par value and there is no concept of authorized share capital under Singapore law. All shares presently issued are fully paid and existing shareholders are not subject to any calls on shares. Although Singapore law does not recognize the concept of “non-assessability” with respect to newly-issued shares, we note that any purchaser of our shares who has fully paid up all amounts due with respect to such shares will not be subject under Singapore law to any personal liability to contribute to the assets or liabilities of our company in such purchaser’s capacity solely as a holder of such shares. We believe that this interpretation is substantively consistent with the concept of “non-assessability” under most, if not all, U.S. state corporations laws. All shares are in registered form. We cannot, except in the circumstances permitted by the Singapore Companies Act, grant any financial assistance for the acquisition or proposed acquisition of our own shares.

There is a provision in our articles of association which enables us to issue shares with preferential, deferred, qualified or other special rights, privileges, conditions or such restrictions, whether in regard to dividend, voting, return of capital, redemption or otherwise, as our directors may deem fit with respect to additional classes of shares, subject to the provisions of the Singapore Companies Act, our articles of association and any special rights previously conferred on the holders of any existing shares or class of shares. For more information, see “— Preference Shares”.

New Shares

Under Singapore law and our articles of association, new shares may be issued only with the prior approval of our shareholders in a general meeting. General approval may be sought from our shareholders in a general meeting for the issue of shares. Approval, if granted, will lapse at the earlier of:

 

Ÿ

the conclusion of the next annual general meeting;

 

Ÿ

the expiration of the period within which the next annual general meeting is required by law to be held (i.e., within 15 months from the last annual general meeting); or

 

Ÿ

the subsequent revocation or modification of approval by our shareholders acting at a duly noticed and convened meeting.

At our annual general meeting on March 31, 2010, our shareholders approved and provided our board of directors with general authority to allot and issue new ordinary shares in the Company’s capital without further shareholder action. This general authority includes the authority, among other matters, to make or grant offers, agreements, options or other instruments requiring the issuance of ordinary shares (including the grant of awards or options pursuant to the Company’s equity-based incentive plans in effect as at March 31, 2010 and the creation and issuance of warrants, debentures or other instruments convertible into ordinary shares), which authority shall continue in effect until the earlier of the conclusion of our 2011 annual general meeting of shareholders or

 

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the expiration of the period within which our 2011 annual general meeting of shareholders is required by law to be held. Subject to this, the provisions of the Singapore Companies Act, our articles of association and the rules of the Nasdaq Global Select Market, or Nasdaq, the directors control the allotment and issuance of all new ordinary shares and may issue new ordinary shares to such persons on such terms and conditions and with the rights and restrictions as they may think fit to impose.

Preference Shares

Our articles of association provide that we may, subject to the prior approval in a general meeting of our shareholders, issue shares of a different class with preferential, deferred, qualified or other special rights, privileges or conditions as our board of directors may determine. Under Singapore law, our preference shareholders will have the right to attend any general meeting and in a poll at such general meeting, to have at least one vote for every preference share held:

 

Ÿ

upon any resolution concerning the winding-up of our company;

 

Ÿ

upon any resolution which varies the rights attached to such preference shares; or

 

Ÿ

when the dividends to be paid on our preference shares are more than twelve months in arrears, for the period they remain unpaid.

We may, subject to the prior approval in a general meeting of our shareholders, issue preference shares which are, at our option, subject to redemption, provided that such preference shares may not be redeemed out of capital unless:

 

Ÿ

all the directors have made a solvency statement in relation to such redemption; and

 

Ÿ

we have lodged a copy of the statement with the Singapore Registrar of Companies.

Further, the shares must be fully paid-up before they are redeemed.

Transfer of Ordinary Shares

Subject to applicable securities laws in relevant jurisdictions and our articles of association, our ordinary shares are freely transferable. Shares may be transferred by a duly signed instrument of transfer in any usual or common form or in a form acceptable to the Company. The directors may in their discretion decline to register any transfer of shares on which we have a lien. The directors may also decline to register any transfer unless, among other things, evidence of payment of any stamp duty payable with respect to the transfer is provided together with other evidence of ownership and title as the directors may require. We will replace lost or destroyed certificates for shares upon notice to us and upon, among other things, the applicant furnishing evidence and indemnity as the directors may require and the payment of all applicable fees.

Election and Re-election of Directors

Under our articles of association, our board of directors may appoint any person to be a director as an additional director or to fill a casual vacancy, provided that any person so appointed shall hold office only until the next annual general meeting, and shall then be eligible for reelection.

Under our articles of association, no person other than a director retiring at a general meeting is eligible for appointment as a director at any general meeting, without the recommendation of the Board for election, unless (a) in the case of a member or members who in aggregate hold(s) more than fifty percent of the total number of

 

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our issued and paid-up shares (excluding treasury shares), not less than ten days, or (b) in the case of a member or members who in aggregate hold(s) more than five percent of the total number of our issued and paid-up shares (excluding treasury shares), not less than 120 days, before the date of the notice provided to members in connection with the general meeting, a written notice signed by such member or members (other than the person to be proposed for appointment) who (i) are qualified to attend and vote at the meeting for which such notice is given, and (ii) have held shares representing the prescribed threshold in (a) or (b) above, for a continuous period of at least one year prior to the date on which such notice is given, is lodged at our registered office. Such a notice must also include the consent of the person nominated.

Shareholders’ Meetings

We are required to hold an annual general meeting each year and not more than 15 months after the holding of the last preceding annual general meeting. The directors may convene an extraordinary general meeting whenever they think fit and they must do so upon the written request of shareholders representing not less than one-tenth of the total voting rights of all shareholders. In addition, two or more shareholders holding not less than one-tenth of our total number of issued shares (excluding our treasury shares) may call a meeting of our shareholders.

Unless otherwise required by law or by our articles of association, voting at general meetings is by ordinary resolution, requiring the affirmative vote of a majority of the shares present in person or represented by proxy at the meeting and entitled to vote on the resolution. An ordinary resolution suffices, for example, for appointments of directors. A special resolution, requiring an affirmative vote of not less than three-fourths of the shares present in person or represented by proxy at the meeting and entitled to vote on the resolution, is necessary for certain matters under Singapore law, such as an alteration of our articles of association.

Voting Rights

Voting at any meeting of shareholders is by poll. On a poll every shareholder who is present in person or by proxy or by attorney, or in the case of a corporation, by a representative, has one vote for every share held by such shareholder.

Dividends

To date, we have not declared any cash dividends on our ordinary shares. However, our board of directors has adopted a dividend policy authorizing the Company to pay a quarterly cash dividend not to exceed $0.07 per ordinary share, per quarter, with the declaration and payment of such dividend to commence no earlier than the first quarter of the fiscal year ending October 30, 2011. The actual declaration and payment of any such cash dividends will be at the discretion of, and subject to the further approval by, our board of directors and will depend upon such factors as our earnings levels, capital requirements, contractual restrictions, cash position, overall financial condition and any other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors. The payment of any dividends is also subject to there being sufficient distributable profits out of which dividends can be declared, as well as the other constraints and factors discussed below.

The payment of cash dividends on ordinary shares is restricted under the terms of the agreements governing our indebtedness, applicable law and our corporate structure. Pursuant to Singapore law and our articles of association, no dividends may be paid except out of our profits. Also, because we are a holding company, our ability to pay cash dividends on our ordinary shares may be limited by restrictions on our ability to obtain sufficient funds through dividends from subsidiaries, including restrictions under the terms of the agreements governing our indebtedness.

 

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Bonus and Rights Issues

Pursuant to the general authority granted to our board of directors at our 2010 annual general meeting of shareholders, our board of directors may, without further shareholder approval:

 

Ÿ

capitalize any reserves or profits and distribute the same as fully paid bonus ordinary shares to shareholders in proportion to their shareholdings;

 

Ÿ

issue bonus shares to participants of any share incentive or option scheme; or plan implemented by us and approved by our shareholders, in such manner and on such terms as our board of directors may think fit; and

 

Ÿ

issue rights to take up additional shares to shareholders in proportion to their shareholdings, with such rights being subject to any conditions attached to such issue and the regulations of the Nasdaq.

Takeovers

The Singapore Code on Take-overs and Mergers regulates, among other things, the acquisition of ordinary shares of Singapore-incorporated public companies. Any person acquiring an interest, whether by a series of transactions over a period of time or not, either on their own or together with parties acting in concert with such person, in 30% or more of our voting shares, or, if such person holds, either on their own or together with parties acting in concert with such person, between 30% and 50% (both amounts inclusive) of our voting shares, and if such person (or parties acting in concert with such person) acquires additional voting shares representing more than 1% of our voting shares in any six-month period, must, except with the consent of the Securities Industry Council in Singapore, extend a mandatory takeover offer for the remaining voting shares in accordance with the provisions of the Singapore Code on Take-overs and Mergers.

“Parties acting in concert” comprise individuals or companies who, pursuant to an agreement or understanding (whether formal or informal), cooperate, through the acquisition by any of them of shares in a company, to obtain or consolidate effective control of that company. Certain persons are presumed (unless the presumption is rebutted) to be acting in concert with each other. They are as follows:

 

Ÿ

a company and its related companies, the associated companies of any of the company and its related companies, companies whose associated companies include any of these companies and any person who has provided financial assistance (other than a bank in the ordinary course of business) to any of the foregoing for the purchase of voting rights;

 

Ÿ

a company and its directors (including their close relatives, related trusts and companies controlled by any of the directors, their close relatives and related trusts);

 

Ÿ

a company and its pension funds and employee share schemes;

 

Ÿ

a person with any investment company, unit trust or other fund whose investment such person manages on a discretionary basis but only in respect of the investment account which such person manages;

 

Ÿ

a financial or other professional adviser, including a stockbroker, and its clients in respect of shares held by the adviser and persons controlling, controlled by or under the same control as the adviser and all the funds managed by the adviser on a discretionary basis, where the shareholdings of the adviser and any of those funds in the client total 10% or more of the client’s equity share capital;

 

Ÿ

directors of a company (including their close relatives, related trusts and companies controlled by any of such directors, their close relatives and related trusts) which is subject to an offer or where the directors have reason to believe a bona fide offer for the company may be imminent;

 

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partners; and

 

Ÿ

an individual and such person’s close relatives, related trusts, any person who is accustomed to act in accordance with such person’s instructions and companies controlled by the individual, such person’s close relatives, related trusts or any person who is accustomed to act in accordance with such person’s instructions and any person who has provided financial assistance (other than a bank in the ordinary course of business) to any of the foregoing for the purchase of voting rights.

A mandatory offer must be in cash or be accompanied by a cash alternative at not less than the highest price paid by the offeror or parties acting in concert with the offeror during the offer period and within the six months preceding the acquisition of shares that triggered the mandatory offer obligation.

Under the Singapore Code on Take-overs and Mergers, where effective control of a company is acquired or consolidated by a person, or persons acting in concert, a general offer to all other shareholders is normally required. An offeror must treat all shareholders of the same class in an offeree company equally. A fundamental requirement is that shareholders in the company subject to the takeover offer must be given sufficient information, advice and time to consider and decide on the offer. These legal requirements may impede or delay a takeover of our company by a third-party.

We may submit an application to the Securities Industry Council of Singapore for a waiver from the Singapore Code on Take-overs and Mergers so that the Singapore Code on Take-overs and Mergers will not apply to our company for so long as we are not listed on a securities exchange in Singapore. We will make an appropriate announcement if we submit the application and when the result of the application is known.

Liquidation or Other Return of Capital

On a winding-up or other return of capital, subject to any special rights attaching to any other class of shares, holders of ordinary shares will be entitled to participate in any surplus assets in proportion to their shareholdings.

Limitations on Rights to Hold or Vote Ordinary Shares

Except as discussed above under “— Takeovers,” there are no limitations imposed by the laws of Singapore or by our articles of association on the right of non-resident shareholders to hold or vote ordinary shares.

Second Amended and Restated Shareholder Agreement

Investors, to which we refer to in this prospectus as the Equity Investors, invested approximately $1,300 million in our business as part of the SPG Acquisition. In connection with the closing of the SPG Acquisition, we entered into a shareholder agreement with the Equity Investors, other than members of management, who are party to separate agreements. In connection with our initial public offering, or IPO, we and the Equity Investors amended and restated the shareholder agreement to delete or curtail provisions that became inoperative or unnecessary upon us becoming a public company. Set forth below is a description of the Second Amended and Restated Shareholder Agreement, referred to in this prospectus as the Shareholder Agreement.

Board Composition.    The Shareholder Agreement provides that our board of directors must consist of eleven members unless otherwise agreed upon by investment funds affiliated with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., or KKR, and investment funds affiliated with Silver Lake Partners, or Silver Lake, and that, subject to election by our shareholders at each annual general meeting, certain of our shareholders have the right to designate director nominees to our board of directors as follows:

 

Ÿ

three designees of KKR, for so long as KKR and its affiliates either continue to own, directly or indirectly,

 

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at least 24% of our outstanding ordinary shares or have not transferred any shares to an unaffiliated third-party, provided that KKR has the right to designate two directors for so long as KKR and its affiliates continue to own, directly or indirectly, at least 15% of our outstanding ordinary shares and one director for so long as KKR and its affiliates continue to own, directly or indirectly, at least 5% of our outstanding ordinary shares;

 

Ÿ

three designees of Silver Lake, for so long as Silver Lake and its affiliates either continue to own, directly or indirectly, at least 24% of our outstanding ordinary shares or have not transferred any shares to an unaffiliated third-party, provided that Silver Lake has the right to designate two directors for so long as Silver Lake and its affiliates continue to own, directly or indirectly, at least 15% of our outstanding ordinary shares and one director for so long as Silver Lake and its affiliates continue to own, directly or indirectly, at least 5% of our outstanding ordinary shares;

 

Ÿ

one designee of Seletar Investments Pte Ltd, or Seletar, an affiliate of Temasek Capital (Private) Limited, so long as it either continues to own, directly or indirectly, 2.5% of our outstanding shares and has not sold any of its shares, or continues to own, directly or indirectly, 5% of our outstanding shares;

 

Ÿ

our Chief Executive Officer; and

 

Ÿ

three other directors mutually agreeable to KKR and Silver Lake, to which we refer collectively in this prospectus as the Sponsors.

The number of other directors mutually agreeable to the Sponsors may be increased from time to time with the Sponsors’ prior approval, however, the Sponsors may revoke such approval at any time and immediately remove the excess director from the board of directors. Currently, as agreed by KKR and Silver Lake, our board of directors consists of nine members, with KKR and Silver Lake each having two designees on our board of directors.

Each of KKR, Silver Lake and Seletar has the right to remove and replace its director-designees at any time and for any reason and to fill any vacancies otherwise resulting in such director positions. If the number of directors that an Equity Investor is entitled to designate is reduced, any vacant seats on our board of directors will be filled by the board of directors acting in accordance with its nomination and governance procedures.

Each of KKR and Silver Lake has the right to designate one member to each committee of the board of directors, so long as such Sponsor has the right to designate one or more director nominees to the board of directors and subject to compliance with applicable federal securities laws and the requirements of the U.S. exchange on which our ordinary shares are traded.

The rights with respect to board composition described here will terminate upon a change in control transaction, as defined in the Shareholder Agreement.

Sponsor Approval.    The Shareholder Agreement provides that the following actions by us or any of our subsidiaries require approval of the Sponsors for so long as the Sponsors own 50% or more of our outstanding ordinary shares:

 

Ÿ

changing the size or composition of our board of directors;

 

Ÿ

entering into a change of control transaction;

 

Ÿ

acquiring or disposing of assets or entering into joint ventures with a value in excess of $300 million;

 

Ÿ

incurring indebtedness in excess of $300 million;

 

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filing for voluntary liquidation, dissolution, receivership, bankruptcy or similar insolvency proceeding;

 

Ÿ

entering into certain transactions with the Sponsors or any of their affiliates;

 

Ÿ

making material changes in the nature of our business or our subsidiaries’ business; and

 

Ÿ

amending, waiving or otherwise modifying certain shareholder agreements.

The Sponsors previously consented to the board’s appointment of Mr. James Diller, Ms. Justine Lien and Mr. Donald Macleod to the board of directors.

Co-Investor Protections.    The Shareholder Agreement provides that, other than actions specifically set forth therein, we will not take any action in respect of any class of our shares that has a materially disproportionate effect on specified Equity Investors other than the Sponsors, or the Co-Investors, as compared to the Sponsors, in their capacity as shareholders of such class of shares, without first obtaining the prior written consent of the Co-Investors holding a majority of such class of shares then held by the Co-Investors.

Transfer Restrictions.    Prior to August 6, 2011 (two years after our IPO), neither KKR nor Silver Lake may transfer its shares without the approval of the other Sponsor, subject to certain permitted transfers. No Co-Investor may transfer its shares without the approval of the Sponsors, except (i) to permitted transferees, (ii) in a transfer in connection with a sale pursuant to the Registration Rights Agreement described under “— Registration Rights Agreement,” or (iii) if either Sponsor has reduced the number of shares it holds relative to the number of shares initially held by it, each Co-Investor may sell up to the number of shares as would cause such Co-Investor to reduce the number of shares it holds in the same proportion as that of such Sponsor. These transfer restrictions will terminate upon a change of control transaction unless terminated earlier by the Sponsors.

Tag Along Right.    Prior to making any transfer of shares (other than certain customary permitted transfers, transfers in connection with sales pursuant to the Registration Rights Agreement, transfers pursuant to Rule 144 and certain distributions and charitable contributions), any prospective selling Sponsor must provide written notice to each Co-Investor setting forth the terms of such proposed transfer. Each Co-Investor may elect to sell up to its pro rata portion of the shares (based upon the ownership of such shares by the transferring Sponsor and all persons entitled to participate in such transfer) to be sold in such transfer. This tag along right will terminate upon a change of control transaction unless terminated earlier by the Sponsors.

Drag Along Right.    If the Sponsors approve a change of control transaction, each Co-Investor will be required to vote in favor of and not oppose such transaction and, if structured as a sale of shares, sell its shares to a prospective buyer on the same terms that are applicable to the Sponsors. This drag along right will terminate upon a change of control transaction unless terminated earlier by the Sponsors.

Information Rights.    We have agreed to provide to the Equity Investors, so long as the applicable Equity Investor owns at least 2.5% of our outstanding ordinary shares, monthly financial information. We have agreed to provide to each shareholder party to the Shareholder Agreement the necessary information for the preparation of such shareholder’s income tax returns. So long as the applicable Equity Investor owns at least 5% of our outstanding ordinary shares, we have granted such Equity Investor rights to inspect our facilities, records, files and other information, and to meet with our management and outside accountants. Each shareholder party to the Shareholder Agreement agrees to keep confidential the confidential information obtained from us. The information rights will expire upon a change in control transaction.

Termination.    The Shareholder Agreement may be amended or terminated, and the provisions thereof waived, by an agreement in writing signed by us and the Equity Investors holding not less than 70% of our outstanding ordinary shares held by all Equity Investors. If any amendment would adversely affect the rights of a particular Equity Investor or adversely impose additional material obligations on a particular Equity Investor, then the consent of such particular Equity Investor is required for the amendment.

 

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Registration Rights Agreement

We are party to a registration rights agreement, or Registration Rights Agreement, which provides the Sponsors the right to demand that we file a registration statement and the Sponsors and the Co-Investors the right to request that their shares be covered by a registration statement that we are otherwise filing, subject to certain limitations. Prior to August 6, 2011 (two years after our IPO), upon the request of both Sponsors, we may be required to initiate an unlimited number of registrations under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, in order to register the resale of their ordinary shares with an anticipated aggregate offering price of at least $50 million in the case of a “long-form registration” and $20 million in the case of a “short-form registration”. After August 6, 2011 (two years after our IPO), each Sponsor may require us to initiate three “long-form registrations”, provided that each has an aggregate offering price of at least $50 million, and an unlimited number of “short-form registrations”, provided that each has an aggregate offering price of at least $20 million, under the Securities Act in order to register the resale of their ordinary shares. The minimum offering amounts may be reduced with the approval of the Sponsors. In the event that we propose to register any of our securities under the Securities Act, either for our own account or for the account of other securityholders, the Sponsors and Co-Investors are entitled to notice of such registration and are entitled to certain “piggyback” registration rights allowing them to include their ordinary shares in such registration, subject to certain marketing and other limitations. We may, in certain circumstances, defer such registrations. In addition, in an underwritten offering the managing underwriter, if any, has the right, subject to specified conditions, to limit the number of registrable securities such holders may include. Any such limitations on the number of registrable securities that may be included by such holders must be on a pro rata basis. The Registration Rights Agreement also contains customary cross-indemnification provisions.

Participants in our Amended and Restated Equity Incentive Plan for Executive Employees of Avago Technologies Limited and Subsidiaries, or the Executive Plan, are party to a Management Shareholders Agreement that provides them “piggyback” registration rights alongside with the Sponsors and Co-Investors. For more information, see “— Management Shareholders Agreement”.

Management Shareholders Agreement

Each participant in the Executive Plan, including each executive officer, was required to enter into a Management Shareholders Agreement with the Company and its controlling shareholder, Bali Investments S.àr.l, or Bali, in connection with the executive’s purchase of shares pursuant to the Executive Plan. In addition, in connection with our IPO, any person holding options granted under our Amended and Restated Equity Incentive Plan for Senior Management Employees of Avago Technologies Limited and Subsidiaries, or the Senior Management Plan, to acquire 40,000 or more ordinary shares of the Company also entered into a Management Shareholders Agreement at the time of the IPO. Each Management Shareholders Agreement provides the company with certain rights that effectively restrict the transfer of the Company’s ordinary shares until a change of control transaction or five years from the date of purchase, or in the case of options, the date of grant. The restrictive rights provided to Bali pursuant to each Management Shareholder Agreement include a bring along right whereby Bali can require participants to sell shares along with Bali. In addition, each executive holds a tag-along right whereby each executive may require Bali to allow the executive to sell along with Bali in certain sales, and “piggyback” registration rights allowing the executive to sell along with Bali in a public offering.

Limitations of Liability and Indemnification Matters

Our articles of association provide that, subject to the provisions of the Singapore Companies Act, every director, managing director, secretary or other officer of our company or our subsidiaries and affiliates shall be entitled to be indemnified by our company against all costs, charges, losses, expenses and liabilities incurred by him or her in the execution and discharge of his or her duties or in relation thereto and in particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, no director, managing director, secretary or other officer of our company or our subsidiaries and affiliates shall be liable for the acts, receipts, neglects or defaults of any other

 

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director or officer or for joining in any receipt or other act for conformity or for any loss or expense happening to our company through the insufficiency or deficiency of title to any property acquired by order of the directors for or on behalf of our company or for the insufficiency or deficiency of any security in or upon which any of the moneys of our company shall be invested or for any loss or damage arising from the bankruptcy, insolvency or tortious act of any person with whom any moneys, securities or effects shall be deposited or left or for any other loss, damage or misfortune whatever which shall happen in the execution of the duties of his or her office or in relation thereto unless the same happen through his or her own negligence, default, breach of duty or breach of trust.

The limitation of liability and indemnification provisions in our articles of association may discourage shareholders from bringing a lawsuit against directors for breach of their fiduciary duties. They may also reduce the likelihood of derivative litigation against directors and officers, even though an action, if successful, might benefit us and our shareholders. A shareholder’s investment may be harmed to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against directors and officers pursuant to these indemnification provisions. Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to our directors, officers and controlling persons pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, we have been advised that, in the opinion of the SEC, such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act, and is, therefore, unenforceable.

The Nasdaq Global Select Market Listing

Our ordinary shares are listed on Nasdaq under the symbol “AVGO.”

Transfer Agent

The transfer agent and registrar for our ordinary shares is Computershare Trust Company, N.A.

COMPARISON OF SHAREHOLDER RIGHTS

We are incorporated under the laws of Singapore. The following discussion summarizes material differences between the rights of holders of our ordinary shares and the rights of holders of the common stock of a typical corporation incorporated under the laws of the state of Delaware which result from differences in governing documents and the laws of Singapore and Delaware.

This discussion does not purport to be a complete or comprehensive statement of the rights of holders of our ordinary shares under applicable law in Singapore and our articles of association or the rights of holders of the common stock of a typical corporation under applicable Delaware law and a typical certificate of incorporation and bylaws.

The Singapore Companies Act contains the default articles that apply to a Singapore-incorporated company to the extent they are not excluded or modified by a company’s articles of association. They provide examples of the common provisions adopted by companies in their articles of association. However, as is the usual practice for companies incorporated in Singapore, we have specifically excluded the application of these provisions in our articles of association, which we refer to below as our articles.

 

Delaware		Singapore — Avago Technologies Limited
Board of Directors
A typical certificate of incorporation and bylaws would provide that the number of directors on the board of directors will be fixed from time to time by a vote of		The memorandum and articles of association of companies will typically state the minimum and maximum number of directors as well as provide that

 

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Delaware		Singapore — Avago Technologies Limited
the majority of the authorized directors. Under Delaware law, a board of directors can be divided into classes and cumulative voting in the election of directors is only permitted if expressly authorized in a corporation’s certificate of incorporation.		the number of directors may be increased or reduced by shareholders via ordinary resolution passed at a general meeting, provided that the number of directors following such increase or reduction is within the maximum and minimum number of directors provided in our articles and the Singapore Companies Act, respectively. Our articles provide that the maximum number of directors will be 13.
Limitation on Personal Liability of Directors
A typical certificate of incorporation provides for the elimination of personal monetary liability of directors for breach of fiduciary duties as directors to the fullest extent permissible under the laws of Delaware, except for liability(i) for any breach of a director’s loyalty to the corporation or its stockholders, (ii) for acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, (iii) under Section 174 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (relating to the liability of directors for unlawful payment of a dividend or an unlawful stock purchase or redemption) or (iv) for any transaction from which the director derived an improper personal benefit. A typical certificate of incorporation would also provide that if the Delaware General Corporation Law is amended so as to allow further elimination of, or limitations on, director liability, then the liability of directors will be eliminated or limited to the fullest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law as so amended.		Pursuant to the Singapore Companies Act, any provision (whether in the articles of association, contract or otherwise) exempting or indemnifying a director against any liability for negligence, default, breach of duty or breach of trust will be void. Nevertheless, a director can be released by the shareholders of a company for breaches of duty to a company except in the case of fraud, illegality, insolvency and oppression or disregard of minority interests.   Our articles provide that subject to the provisions of the Singapore Companies Act, every director, managing director, secretary and other officer of the Company and its subsidiaries and affiliates, will be indemnified against any liability incurred by such person in defending any proceedings, whether civil or criminal, which relate to anything done or omitted or alleged to be done or omitted by such person as an officer or employee of the company and in which judgment is given in their favor or in which such person is acquitted or in connection with any application under the Singapore Companies Act or any other Singapore statute in which relief is granted to such person by the court unless the same should happen through their own negligence, default, breach of duty or breach of trust.
Interested Shareholders
Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law generally prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in specified corporate transactions (such as mergers, stock and asset sales, and loans) with an “interested stockholder” for three years following the time that the stockholder becomes an interested stockholder. Subject to specified exceptions, an “interested stockholder” is a person or group that owns 15% or more of the corporation’s outstanding voting stock (including any rights to acquire stock pursuant to an option, warrant, agreement, arrangement or understanding, or upon the exercise of conversion or exch-		There are no comparable provisions in Singapore with respect to public companies which are not listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited.

 

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Delaware		Singapore — Avago Technologies Limited
ange rights, and stock with respect to which the person has voting rights only), or is an affiliate or associate of the corporation and was the owner of 15% or more of the voting stock at any time within the previous three years.   A Delaware corporation may elect to “opt out” of, and not be governed by, Section 203 through a provision in either its original certificate of incorporation, or an amendment to its original certificate or bylaws that was approved by majority stockholder vote. With a limited exception, this amendment would not become effective until 12 months following its adoption.
Removal of Directors
A typical certificate of incorporation and bylaws provide that, subject to the rights of holders of any preferred stock, directors may be removed at any time by the affirmative vote of the holders of at least a majority, or in some instances a supermajority, of the voting power of all of the then outstanding shares entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, voting together as a single class. A certificate of incorporation could also provide that such a right is only exercisable when a director is being removed for cause (removal of a director only for cause is the default rule in the case of a classified board).		According to the Singapore Companies Act, directors of a public company may be removed before expiration of their term of office with or without cause by ordinary resolution (i.e., a resolution which is passed by a simple majority of those shareholders present and voting in person or by proxy). Notice of the intention to move such a resolution has to be given to the company not less than 28 days before the meeting at which it is moved. The company shall then give notice of such resolution to its shareholders not less than 14 days before the meeting. Where any director removed in this manner was appointed to represent the interests of any particular class of shareholders or debenture holders, the resolution to remove such director will not take effect until such director’s successor has been appointed.
Filling Vacancies on the Board of Directors
A typical certificate of incorporation and bylaws provide that, subject to the rights of the holders of any preferred stock, any vacancy, whether arising through death, resignation, retirement, disqualification, removal, an increase in the number of directors or any other reason, may be filled by a majority vote of the remaining directors, even if such directors remaining in office constitute less than a quorum, or by the sole remaining director. Any newly elected director usually holds office for the remainder of the full term expiring at the annual meeting of stockholders at which the term of the class of directors to which the newly elected director has been elected expires.		The articles of a Singapore company typically provide that the directors have the power to appoint any person to be a director, either to fill a vacancy or as an addition to the existing directors, but so that the total number of directors will not at any time exceed the maximum number fixed in the articles. Any newly elected director shall hold office until the next following annual general meeting, where such director will then be eligible for reelection. Our articles provide that the directors may appoint any person to be a director as an additional director or to fill a vacancy provided that any person so appointed will only hold office until the next annual general meeting, and will then be eligible for reelection.

 

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Delaware		Singapore — Avago Technologies Limited
Amendment of Governing Documents
Amendment of Certification of Incorporation and Bylaws   Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, amendments to a corporation’s certificate of incorporation require the approval of stockholders holding a majority of the outstanding shares entitled to vote on the amendment.   If a class vote on the amendment is required by the Delaware General Corporation Law, a majority of the outstanding stock of the class is required, unless a greater proportion is specified in the certificate of incorporation or by other provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law. Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, the board of directors may amend bylaws if so authorized in the certificate of incorporation. The stockholders of a Delaware corporation also have the power to amend bylaws.		Alteration to memorandum and articles of association   Our memorandum and articles may be altered by special resolution (i.e., a resolution passed by at least a three-fourths majority of the shares entitled to vote, present in person or by proxy at a meeting for which not less than 21 days written notice is given). The board of directors has no right to amend the memorandum or articles.
Meetings of Shareholders
Annual and Special Meetings		Annual General Meetings
Typical bylaws provide that annual meetings of stockholders are to be held on a date and at a time fixed by the board of directors. Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, a special meeting of stockholders may be called by the board of directors or by any other person authorized to do so in the certificate of incorporation or the bylaws.		All companies are required to hold an annual general meeting once every calendar year. The first annual general meeting must be held within 18 months of the company’s incorporation and subsequently, not more than 15 months may elapse between annual general meetings.
		Extraordinary General Meetings
		Any general meeting other than the annual general meeting is called an “extraordinary general meeting”. Two or more shareholders holding not less than 10% of the total number of issued shares (excluding treasury shares) may call an extraordinary general meeting. In addition, the articles usually also provide that general meetings may be convened in accordance with the Singapore Companies Act by the directors.
		Notwithstanding anything in the articles, the directors are required to convene a general meeting if required to do so by requisition (i.e., written notice to directors requiring that a meeting be called) by shareholder(s) holding not less than 10% of the paid-up capital of the company carrying voting rights.

 

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Delaware		Singapore — Avago Technologies Limited
		Our articles provide that the directors may, whenever they think fit, convene an extraordinary general meeting.
Quorum Requirements		Quorum Requirements
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, a corporation’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws can specify the number of shares which constitute the quorum required to conduct business at a meeting, provided that in no event shall a quorum consist of less than one-third of the shares entitled to vote at a meeting.		Our articles provide that shareholders entitled to vote holding a majority of the number of our issued and paid-up shares, present in person or by proxy at a meeting, shall be a quorum. In the event a quorum is not present, the meeting may be adjourned for one week. When reconvened, the quorum for the meeting will be shareholders entitled to vote holding between them a majority of the number of our issued and paid-up shares, present in person or by proxy at such meeting.
Indemnification of Officers, Directors and Employees
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, subject to specified limitations in the case of derivative suits brought by a corporation’s stockholders in its name, a corporation may indemnify any person who is made a party to any third-party action, suit or proceeding on account of being a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation (or was serving at the request of the corporation in such capacity for another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise) against expenses, including attorney’s fees, judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by him or her in connection with the action, suit or proceeding through, among other things, a majority vote of a quorum consisting of directors who were not parties to the suit or proceeding, if the person:   Ÿ   acted in good faith and in a manner he or she reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation or, in some circumstances, at least not opposed to its best interests; and   Ÿ   in a criminal proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe his or her conduct was unlawful.   Delaware corporate law permits indemnification by a corporation under similar circumstances for expenses (including attorneys’ fees) actually and reasonably incurred by such persons in connection with the defense or settlement of a derivative action or suit, except that no indemnification may be made in respect of any claim, issue or matter as to which the person is adjudged to be liable to the corporation unless the Delaware Court of Chancery or the court in which the action or suit was brought determines upon application		The Singapore Companies Act specifically provides that a company is allowed to:   Ÿ   purchase and maintain for any officer insurance against any liability which by law would otherwise attach to such officer in respect of any negligence, default, breach of duty or breach of trust of which such officer may be guilty in relation to the company; or   Ÿ   indemnify such officer or auditor against any liability incurred by such officer or auditor in defending any proceedings (whether civil or criminal) in which judgment is given in such officer’s favor or in which such officer is acquitted; or   Ÿ   indemnify such officer or auditor against any liability incurred by such officer or auditor in connection with any application under specified portions of the Singapore Companies Act in which relief is granted to such officer or auditor by a court.   In cases where a director is sued by the company, the Singapore Companies Act gives the court the power to relieve directors either wholly or partially from the consequences of their negligence, default, breach of duty or breach of trust. However, Singapore case law has indicated that such relief will not be granted to a director who has benefited as a result of his or her breach of trust. In order for relief to be obtained, it must be shown that (i) the director acted reasonably and honestly; and (ii) it is fair, having regard to all the circumstances of the case including those connected with such director’s appointment, to excuse the director.

 

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Delaware		Singapore — Avago Technologies Limited
that the person is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity for the expenses which the court deems to be proper.   To the extent a director, officer, employee or agent is successful in the defense of such an action, suit or proceeding, the corporation is required by Delaware corporate law to indemnify such person for reasonable expenses incurred thereby. Expenses (including attorneys’ fees) incurred by such persons in defending any action, suit or proceeding may be paid in advance of the final disposition of such action, suit or proceeding upon receipt of an undertaking by or on behalf of that person to repay the amount if it is ultimately determined that person is not entitled to be so indemnified.		Our articles provide that subject to the provisions of the Singapore Companies Act, every director, managing director, secretary and other officer for the time being of our company and our subsidiaries and affiliates, will be indemnified by the company against any liability incurred by such person in defending any proceedings, whether civil or criminal, which relates to anything done or omitted or alleged to be done or omitted by such person as an officer or employee of the company and in which judgment is given in their favor or in which such person is acquitted or in connection with any application under the Singapore Companies Act or any other Singapore statute in which relief is granted to such person by the court unless the same shall happen through their own negligence, default, breach of duty or breach of trust.
Shareholder Approval of Business Combinations
Generally, under the Delaware General Corporation Law, completion of a merger, consolidation, or the sale, lease or exchange of substantially all of a corporation’s assets or dissolution requires approval by the board of directors and by a majority (unless the certificate of incorporation requires a higher percentage) of outstanding stock of the corporation entitled to vote.   The Delaware General Corporation Law also requires a special vote of stockholders in connection with a business combination with an “interested stockholder” as defined in section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. See “ — Interested Shareholders” above.		The Singapore Companies Act mandates that specified corporate actions require approval by the shareholders in a general meeting, notably:   Ÿ   notwithstanding anything in the company’s memorandum or articles, directors are not permitted to carry into effect any proposals for disposing of the whole or substantially the whole of the company’s undertaking or property unless those proposals have been approved by shareholders in a general meeting;   Ÿ   subject to the memorandum of each amalgamating company, an amalgamation proposal must be approved by the shareholders of each amalgamating company via special resolution at a general meeting; and   Ÿ   notwithstanding anything in the company’s memorandum or articles, the directors may not, without the prior approval of shareholders, issue shares, including shares being issued in connection with corporate actions.
Shareholder Action Without A Meeting
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, unless otherwise provided in a corporation’s certificate of incorporation, any action that may be taken at a meeting of stockholders may be taken without a meeting, without prior notice and without a vote if the holders of outstanding stock, having not less than the minimum number of votes that would be necessary to authorize such action, consent in writing. It is not uncommon for a corporation’s certificate of incorporation to prohibit such action.		There are no equivalent provisions in respect of public companies which are not listed in Singapore.

 

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Delaware		Singapore — Avago Technologies Limited
Shareholder Suits
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, a stockholder may bring a derivative action on behalf of the corporation to enforce the rights of the corporation. An individual also may commence a class action suit on behalf of himself or herself and other similarly situated stockholders where the requirements for maintaining a class action under the Delaware General Corporation Law have been met. A person may institute and maintain such a suit only if such person was a stockholder at the time of the transaction which is the subject of the suit or his or her shares thereafter devolved upon him or her by operation of law. Additionally, under Delaware case law, the plaintiff generally must be a stockholder not only at the time of the transaction which is the subject of the suit, but also through the duration of the derivative suit. The Delaware General Corporation Law also requires that the derivative plaintiff make a demand on the directors of the corporation to assert the corporate claim before the suit may be prosecuted by the derivative plaintiff, unless such demand would be futile.		Derivative actions   The Singapore Companies Act has a provision, which is limited in its scope to companies that are not listed on the securities exchange in Singapore, which provides a mechanism enabling shareholders to apply to the court for leave to bring a derivative action on behalf of the company.   Applications are generally made by shareholders of the company or individual directors, but courts are given the discretion to allow such persons as they deem proper to apply (e.g., beneficial owner of shares).   It should be noted that this provision of the Singapore Companies Act is primarily used by minority shareholders to bring an action in the name and on behalf of the company or intervene in an action to which the company is a party for the purpose of prosecuting, defending or discontinuing the action on behalf of the company.
		Class actions
		The concept of class action suits, which allows individual shareholders to bring an action seeking to represent the class or classes of shareholders, does not exist in Singapore. However, it is possible as a matter of procedure for a number of shareholders to lead an action and establish liability on behalf of themselves and other shareholders who join in or who are made parties to the action. These shareholders are commonly known as “lead plaintiffs.” Further, there are circumstances under the provisions of certain Singapore statutes where shareholders may file and prove their claims for compensation in the event that the company has been convicted of a criminal offense or has a court order for the payment of a civil penalty made against it.
Distributions and Dividends; Repurchases and Redemptions
The Delaware General Corporation Law permits a corporation to declare and pay dividends out of statutory surplus or, if there is no surplus, out of net profits for the fiscal year in which the dividend is declared and/or for the preceding fiscal year as long as the amount of capital of the corporation following the declaration and payment of the dividend is not less		The Singapore Companies Act provides that no dividends can be paid to shareholders except out of profits.   The Singapore Companies Act does not provide a definition on when profits are deemed to be available for the purpose of paying dividends and this is accordingly governed by case law.

 

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Delaware		Singapore — Avago Technologies Limited
than the aggregate amount of the capital represented by the issued and outstanding stock of all classes having a preference upon the distribution of assets.		Our articles provide that no dividend can be paid otherwise than out of profits.
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, any corporation may purchase or redeem its own shares, except that generally it may not purchase or redeem these shares if the capital of the corporation is impaired at the time or would become impaired as a result of the redemption. A corporation may, however, purchase or redeem out of capital shares that are entitled upon any distribution of its assets to a preference over another class or series of its shares if the shares are to be retired and the capital reduced.		Acquisition of a company’s own shares   The Singapore Companies Act generally prohibits a company from acquiring its own shares subject to certain exceptions. Any contract or transaction by which a company acquires or transfers its own shares is void. However, provided that it is expressly permitted to do so by its articles and subject to the special conditions of each permitted acquisition contained in the Singapore Companies Act, a company may:   Ÿ   redeem redeemable preference shares (the redemption of these shares will not reduce the capital of the company). Preference shares may be redeemed out of capital if all the directors make a solvency statement in relation to such redemption in accordance with the Singapore Companies Act;   Ÿ   whether listed on a securities exchange or not, make an off-market purchase of its own shares in accordance with an equal access scheme authorized in advance at a general meeting;   Ÿ   if it is not listed on a securities exchange, make a selective off-market purchase of its own shares in accordance with an agreement authorized in advance at a general meeting by a special resolution where persons whose shares are to be acquired and their associated persons have abstained from voting; and   Ÿ   whether listed on a securities exchange or not, make an acquisition of its own shares under a contingent purchase contract which has been authorized in advance at a general meeting by a special resolution.
		A company may also purchase its own shares by an order of a Singapore court.
		The total number of ordinary shares that may be acquired by a company in a relevant period may not exceed 10% of the total number of ordinary shares in that class as of the date of the last annual general meeting of the company or as of the date of the resolution to acquire the shares, whichever is higher. Where, however, a company has reduced its share capital by a special resolution or a Singapore court made an order to such effect, the total number of

 

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Delaware		Singapore — Avago Technologies Limited
		ordinary shares in any class shall be taken to be the total number of ordinary shares in that class as altered by the special resolution or the order of the court. Payment must be made out of the company’s distributable profits or capital, provided that the company is solvent.
		Financial assistance for the acquisition of shares
		A company may not give financial assistance to any person whether directly or indirectly for the purpose of:   Ÿ   the acquisition or proposed acquisition of shares in the company or units of such shares; or   Ÿ   the acquisition or proposed acquisition of shares in its holding company or units of such shares.
		Financial assistance may take the form of a loan, the giving of a guarantee, the provision of security, the release of an obligation, the release of a debt or otherwise.
		However, it should be noted that a company may provide financial assistance for the acquisition of its shares or shares in its holding company if it complies with the requirements (including approval by special resolution) set out in the Singapore Companies Act. Our articles provide that subject to the provisions of the Singapore Companies Act, we may purchase or otherwise acquire our own shares upon such terms and subject to such conditions as we may deem fit. These shares may be held as treasury shares or cancelled as provided in the Singapore Companies Act or dealt with in such manner as may be permitted under the Singapore Companies Act. On cancellation of the shares, the rights and privileges attached to those shares will expire.
Transactions with Officers or Directors
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, some contracts or transactions in which one or more of a corporation’s directors has an interest are not void or voidable because of such interest provided that some conditions, such as obtaining the required approval and fulfilling the requirements of good faith and full disclosure, are met. Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, either (a) the stockholders or the board of directors must approve in good faith any such contract or transaction after full disclosure of the material facts or (b) the contract or transaction must have been “fair”		Under the Singapore Companies Act, directors are not prohibited from dealing with the company, but where they have an interest in a transaction with the company, that interest must be disclosed to the board of directors. In particular, every director who is in any way, whether directly or indirectly, interested in a transaction or proposed transaction with the company must, as soon practicable after the relevant facts have come to such director’s knowledge, declare the nature of such director’s interest at a board of directors’ meeting.

 

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Delaware		Singapore — Avago Technologies Limited
as to the corporation at the time it was approved. If board approval is sought, the contract or transaction must be approved in good faith by a majority of disinterested directors after full disclosure of material facts, even though less than a majority of a quorum.		In addition, a director who holds any office or possesses any property which directly or indirectly might create interests in conflict with such director’s duties as director is required to declare the fact and the nature, character and extent of the conflict at a meeting of directors.   The Singapore Companies Act extends the scope of this statutory duty of a director to disclose any interests by pronouncing that an interest of a member of a director’s family (including spouse, son, adopted son, step-son, daughter, adopted daughter and step-daughter) will be treated as an interest of the director.
		There is however no requirement for disclosure where the interest of the director consists only of being a member or creditor of a corporation which is interested in the proposed transaction with the company if the interest may properly be regarded as immaterial. Where the proposed transaction relates to any loan to the company, no disclosure need be made where the director has only guaranteed the repayment of such loan, unless the articles of association provide otherwise.
		Further, where the proposed transaction is to be made with or for the benefit of a related corporation (i.e. the holding company, subsidiary or subsidiary of a common holding company) no disclosure need be made of the fact that the director is also a director of that corporation, unless the articles of association provide otherwise.
		Subject to specified exceptions, the Singapore Companies Act prohibits a company from making a loan to its directors or to directors of a related corporation, or giving a guarantee or security in connection with such a loan.
		Companies are also prohibited from making loans to its directors’ spouse or children (whether adopted or naturally or step-children), or giving a guarantee or security in connection with such a loan.
Dissenters’ Rights
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, a stockholder of a corporation participating in some types of major corporate transactions may, under varying circumstances, be entitled to appraisal rights pursuant to which the stockholder may receive cash in the amount of the fair market value of his or her shares in lieu of the consideration he or she would otherwise receive in the transaction.		There are no equivalent provisions in Singapore under the Singapore Companies Act.

 

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Delaware		Singapore — Avago Technologies Limited
Cumulative Voting
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, a corporation may adopt in its bylaws that its directors shall be elected by cumulative voting. When directors are elected by cumulative voting, a stockholder has the number of votes equal to the number of shares held by such stockholder times the number of directors nominated for election. The stockholder may cast all of such votes for one director or among the directors in any proportion.		There is no equivalent provision in respect of companies incorporated in Singapore.
Anti-Takeover Measures
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, the certificate of incorporation of a corporation may give the board the right to issue new classes of preferred stock with voting, conversion, dividend distribution, and other rights to be determined by the board at the time of issuance, which could prevent a takeover attempt and thereby preclude shareholders from realizing a potential premium over the market value of their shares.   In addition, Delaware law does not prohibit a corporation from adopting a stockholder rights plan, or “poison pill,” which could prevent a takeover attempt and also preclude shareholders from realizing a potential premium over the market value of their shares.		The articles of a Singapore company typically provide that the company may allot and issue new shares of a different class with preferential, deferred, qualified or other special rights as its board of directors may determine with the prior approval of the company’s shareholders in a general meeting. Our articles provide that our shareholders may grant to our board the general authority to issue such preference shares until the next general meeting. See “Description of Share Capital — Preference Shares” elsewhere in this prospectus.   Singapore law does not generally prohibit a corporation from adopting “poison pill” arrangements which could prevent a takeover attempt and also preclude shareholders from realizing a potential premium over the market value of their shares.   However, under the Singapore Code on Take-overs and Mergers, if, in the course of an offer, or even before the date of the offer, the board of the offeree company has reason to believe that a bona fide offer is imminent, the board must not, except pursuant to a contract entered into earlier, take any action, without the approval of shareholders at a general meeting, on the affairs of the offeree company that could effectively result in any bona fide offer being frustrated or the shareholders being denied an opportunity to decide on its merits.   See “Description of Share Capital — Takeovers” elsewhere in this prospectus for a description of the Singapore Code on Take-overs and Mergers.

 

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DESCRIPTION OF DEBT SECURITIES

The following description, together with the additional information we include in any applicable prospectus supplement, summarizes certain general terms and provisions of the debt securities that we may offer under this prospectus. When we offer to sell a particular series of debt securities, we will describe the specific terms of the series in a supplement to this prospectus. We will also indicate in the supplement whether the general terms and provisions described in this prospectus apply to a particular series of debt securities.

We may issue debt securities either separately, or together with, or upon the conversion or exercise of or in exchange for, other securities described in this prospectus. Debt securities may be our senior, senior subordinated or subordinated obligations and, unless otherwise specified in a supplement to this prospectus, the debt securities will be our direct, unsecured obligations and may be issued in one or more series.

The debt securities will be issued under an indenture between us and Wilmington Trust FSB, as trustee. We have summarized select portions of the indenture below. The summary is not complete. The form of the indenture has been filed as an exhibit to the registration statement and you should read the indenture for provisions that may be important to you. In the summary below, we have included references to the section numbers of the indenture so that you can easily locate these provisions. Capitalized terms used in the summary and not defined herein have the meanings specified in the indenture.

As used in this section only, “Avago,” “we,” “our” or “us” refer to Avago Technologies Limited excluding our subsidiaries, unless expressly stated or the context otherwise requires.

General

The terms of each series of debt securities will be established by or pursuant to a resolution of our board of directors and set forth or determined in the manner provided in a resolution of our board of directors, in an officer’s certificate or by a supplemental indenture. (Section 2.2) The particular terms of each series of debt securities will be described in a prospectus supplement relating to such series (including any pricing supplement or term sheet).

We can issue an unlimited amount of debt securities under the indenture that may be in one or more series with the same or various maturities, at par, at a premium, or at a discount. We will set forth in a prospectus supplement (including any pricing supplement or term sheet) relating to any series of debt securities being offered, the aggregate principal amount and the following terms of the debt securities, if applicable:

 

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the title and ranking of the debt securities;

 

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the price or prices (expressed as a percentage of the principal amount) at which we will sell the debt securities;

 

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any limit on the aggregate principal amount of the debt securities;

 

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the date or dates on which we will pay the principal of and premium, if any, on the debt securities;

 

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the rate or rates (which may be fixed or variable) per annum or the method used to determine the rate or rates (including any commodity, commodity index, stock exchange index or financial index) at which the debt securities will bear interest, the date or dates from which interest will accrue, the date or dates on which interest will commence and be payable and any regular record date for the interest payable on any interest payment date;

 

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the place or places where principal of, premium, if any, and interest on the debt securities will be payable;

 

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the price or prices and the terms and conditions upon which we may redeem the debt securities;

 

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any obligation we have to redeem or purchase the debt securities pursuant to any sinking fund or analogous provisions or at the option of a holder of debt securities;

 

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the dates on which and the price or prices at which we will repurchase debt securities at the option of the holders of debt securities and other detailed terms and provisions of these repurchase obligations;

 

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the denominations in which the debt securities will be issued, if other than denominations of $1,000 and any integral multiple thereof;

 

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whether the debt securities will be issued in the form of certificated debt securities or global debt securities;

 

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the portion of principal amount of the debt securities payable upon declaration of acceleration of the maturity date, if other than the principal amount;

 

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the currency of denomination of the debt securities;

 

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the designation of the currency, currencies or currency units in which payment of principal of, premium and interest on the debt securities will be made;

 

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if payments of principal of, premium or interest on the debt securities will be made in one or more currencies or currency units other than that or those in which the debt securities are denominated, the manner in which the exchange rate with respect to these payments will be determined;

 

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the manner in which the amounts of payment of principal of, premium, if any, or interest on the debt securities will be determined, if these amounts may be determined by reference to an index based on a currency or currencies other than that in which the debt securities are denominated or designated to be payable or by reference to a commodity, commodity index, stock exchange index or financial index;

 

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any provisions relating to any security provided for the debt securities;

 

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any addition to, deletion of or change in the Events of Default described in this prospectus or in the indenture with respect to the debt securities and any change in the acceleration provisions described in this prospectus or in the indenture with respect to the debt securities;

 

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any addition to, deletion of or change in the covenants described in this prospectus or in the indenture with respect to the debt securities;

 

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any depositaries, interest rate calculation agents, exchange rate calculation agents or other agents with respect to the debt securities (Section 2.2); and

 

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any other terms of the debt securities, which may supplement, modify or delete any provision of the indenture as it applies to that series.

In addition, the indenture does not limit our ability to issue convertible or subordinated debt securities. Any conversion or subordination provisions of a particular series of debt securities will be set forth in the resolution of our board of directors, the officer’s certificate or supplemental indenture related to that series of debt securities, as applicable, and will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement. Such terms may include provisions for conversion, either mandatory, at the option of the holder or at our option, in which case the number of shares of ordinary shares or other securities to be received by the holders of debt securities would be calculated as of a time and in the manner stated in the prospectus supplement.

 

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We may issue debt securities that provide for an amount less than their stated principal amount to be due and payable upon declaration of acceleration of their maturity pursuant to the terms of the indenture. We will provide you with information on the federal income tax considerations and other special considerations applicable to any of these debt securities in the applicable prospectus supplement.

If we denominate the purchase price of any of the debt securities in a foreign currency or currencies or a foreign currency unit or units, or if the principal of and any premium and interest on any series of debt securities is payable in a foreign currency or currencies or a foreign currency unit or units, we will provide you with information on the restrictions, elections, general tax considerations, specific terms and other information with respect to that issue of debt securities and such foreign currency or currencies or foreign currency unit or units in the applicable prospectus supplement.

Transfer and Exchange

Each debt security will be represented by either one or more global securities registered in the name of The Depository Trust Company, as Depositary, or the Depositary, or a nominee (we will refer to any debt security represented by a global debt security as a “book-entry debt security”), or a certificate issued in definitive registered form (we will refer to any debt security represented by a certificated security as a “certificated debt security”) as set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement. Except as set forth under the heading “Global Debt Securities and Book-Entry System” below, book-entry debt securities will not be issuable in certificated form.

Certificated Debt Securities.    You may transfer or exchange certificated debt securities at any office we maintain for this purpose in accordance with the terms of the indenture. No service charge will be made for any transfer or exchange of certificated debt securities, but we may require payment of a sum sufficient to cover any tax or other governmental charge payable in connection with a transfer or exchange.

You may effect the transfer of certificated debt securities and the right to receive the principal of, premium and interest on certificated debt securities only by surrendering the certificate representing those certificated debt securities and either reissuance by us or the trustee of the certificate to the new holder or the issuance by us or the trustee of a new certificate to the new holder.

Global Debt Securities and Book-Entry System.    Each global debt security representing book-entry debt securities will be deposited with, or on behalf of, the Depositary, and registered in the name of the Depositary or a nominee of the Depositary. Please see “Global Securities.”

No Protection In the Event of a Change of Control

Unless we state otherwise in the applicable prospectus supplement, the debt securities will not contain any provisions which may afford holders of the debt securities protection in the event we have a change in control or in the event of a highly leveraged transaction (whether or not such transaction results in a change in control) which could adversely affect holders of debt securities.

Covenants

We will set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement any restrictive covenants applicable to any issue of debt securities.

 

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Consolidation, Merger and Sale of Assets

We may not consolidate with or merge with or into, or convey, transfer or lease all or substantially all of our properties and assets to, any person (a “successor person”) unless:

 

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we are the surviving corporation or the successor person (if other than Avago) is a corporation organized and validly existing under the laws of any U.S. domestic jurisdiction and expressly assumes our obligations on the debt securities and under the indenture;

 

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immediately after giving effect to the transaction, no Event of Default, and no event which, after notice or lapse of time, or both, would become an Event of Default, shall have occurred and be continuing under the indenture; and

 

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certain other conditions are met.

Notwithstanding the above, any subsidiary of Avago may consolidate with, merge into or transfer all or part of its properties to Avago. (Section 5.1)

Events of Default

“Event of Default” means with respect to any series of debt securities, any of the following:

 

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default in the payment of any interest upon any debt security of that series when it becomes due and payable, and continuance of that default for a period of 30 days (unless the entire amount of the payment is deposited by us with the trustee or with a paying agent prior to the expiration of the 30-day period);

 

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default in the payment of principal of or premium, if any, on any debt security of that series when due and payable;

 

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default in the performance or breach of any other covenant or warranty by us in the indenture (other than a covenant or warranty that has been included in the indenture solely for the benefit of a series of debt securities other than that series), which default continues uncured for a period of 60 days after we receive written notice from the trustee or we and the trustee receive written notice from the holders of not less than 25% in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series as provided in the indenture;

 

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certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization of Avago; and

 

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any other Event of Default provided with respect to debt securities of that series that is described in the applicable prospectus supplement.

No Event of Default with respect to a particular series of debt securities (except as to certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization) necessarily constitutes an Event of Default with respect to any other series of debt securities. (Section 6.1) The occurrence of certain Events of Default or an acceleration under the indenture may constitute an event of default under certain indebtedness of ours or our subsidiaries outstanding from time to time.

If an Event of Default with respect to debt securities of any series at the time outstanding occurs and is continuing, then the trustee or the holders of not less than 25% in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series may, by a notice in writing to us (and to the trustee if given by the holders), declare to be due and payable immediately the principal of (or, if the debt securities of that series are discount securities, that portion of the principal amount as may be specified in the terms of that series) and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on all debt securities of that series. In the case of an Event of Default resulting from certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency or

 

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reorganization, the principal (or such specified amount) of and accrued and unpaid interest, if any, on all outstanding debt securities will become and be immediately due and payable without any declaration or other act on the part of the trustee or any holder of outstanding debt securities. At any time after a declaration of acceleration with respect to debt securities of any series has been made, but before a judgment or decree for payment of the money due has been obtained by the trustee, the holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series may rescind and annul the acceleration if all Events of Default, other than the non-payment of accelerated principal and interest, if any, with respect to debt securities of that series, have been cured or waived as provided in the indenture. (Section 6.2) We refer you to the prospectus supplement relating to any series of debt securities that are discount securities for the particular provisions relating to acceleration of a portion of the principal amount of such discount securities upon the occurrence of an Event of Default.

The indenture provides that the trustee will be under no obligation to exercise any of its rights or powers under the indenture unless the trustee receives indemnity satisfactory to it against any loss, liability or expense. (Section 7.1(e)) Subject to certain rights of the trustee, the holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series will have the right to direct the time, method and place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the trustee or exercising any trust or power conferred on the trustee with respect to the debt securities of that series. (Section 6.12)

No holder of any debt security of any series will have any right to institute any proceeding, judicial or otherwise, with respect to the indenture or for the appointment of a receiver or trustee, or for any remedy under the indenture, unless:

 

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that holder has previously given to the trustee written notice of a continuing Event of Default with respect to debt securities of that series; and

 

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the holders of not less than 25% in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series have made written request, and offered reasonable indemnity or security, to the trustee to institute the proceeding as trustee, and the trustee has not received from the holders of not less than a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series a direction inconsistent with that request and has failed to institute the proceeding within 60 days. (Section 6.7)

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the holder of any debt security will have an absolute and unconditional right to receive payment of the principal of, premium and any interest on that debt security on or after the due dates expressed in that debt security and to institute suit for the enforcement of payment. (Section 6.8)

The indenture requires us, within 120 days after the end of our fiscal year, to furnish to the trustee a statement as to compliance with the indenture. (Section 4.3) The indenture provides that the trustee may withhold notice to the holders of debt securities of any series of any Default or Event of Default (except in payment on any debt securities of that series) with respect to debt securities of that series if it in good faith determines that withholding notice is in the interest of the holders of those debt securities. (Section 7.5)

Modification and Waiver

We may modify and amend the indenture with the consent of the holders of at least a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of each series affected by the modifications or amendments. We may not make any modification or amendment without the consent of the holders of each affected debt security then outstanding if that amendment will:

 

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reduce the amount of debt securities whose holders must consent to an amendment, supplement or waiver;

 

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reduce the rate of or extend the time for payment of interest (including default interest) on any debt security;

 

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reduce the principal of or premium on or change the fixed maturity of any debt security or reduce the amount of, or postpone the date fixed for, the payment of any sinking fund or analogous obligation with respect to any series of debt securities;

 

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reduce the principal amount of discount securities payable upon acceleration of maturity;

 

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waive a default in the payment of the principal of, premium or interest on any debt security (except a rescission of acceleration of the debt securities of any series by the holders of at least a majority in aggregate principal amount of the then outstanding debt securities of that series and a waiver of the payment default that resulted from such acceleration);

 

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make the principal of or premium or interest on any debt security payable in currency other than that stated in the debt security;

 

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make any change to certain provisions of the indenture relating to, among other things, the right of holders of debt securities to receive payment of the principal of, premium and interest on those debt securities and to institute suit for the enforcement of any such payment and to waivers or amendments; or

 

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waive a redemption payment with respect to any debt security. (Section 9.3)

Except for certain specified provisions, the holders of at least a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series may on behalf of the holders of all debt securities of that series waive our compliance with provisions of the indenture. (Section 9.2) The holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series may on behalf of the holders of all the debt securities of such series waive any past default under the indenture with respect to that series and its consequences, except a default in the payment of the principal of, premium or any interest on any debt security of that series; provided, however, that the holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series may rescind an acceleration and its consequences, including any related payment default that resulted from the acceleration. (Section 6.13)

Defeasance of Debt Securities and Certain Covenants in Certain Circumstances

Legal Defeasance.    The indenture provides that, unless otherwise provided by the terms of the applicable series of debt securities, we may be discharged from any and all obligations in respect of the debt securities of any series (except for certain obligations to register the transfer or exchange of debt securities of such series, to replace stolen, lost or mutilated debt securities of such series, and to maintain paying agencies and certain provisions relating to the treatment of funds held by paying agents). We will be so discharged upon the deposit with the trustee, in trust, of money and/or U.S. Government Obligations or, in the case of debt securities denominated in a single currency other than U.S. Dollars, Foreign Government Obligations, that, through the payment of interest and principal in accordance with their terms, will provide money in an amount sufficient in the opinion of a nationally recognized firm of independent public accountants to pay and discharge each installment of principal, premium and interest on and any mandatory sinking fund payments in respect of the debt securities of that series on the stated maturity of those payments in accordance with the terms of the indenture and those debt securities.

This discharge may occur only if, among other things, we have delivered to the trustee an opinion of counsel stating that we have received from, or there has been published by, the United States Internal Revenue Service a ruling or, since the date of execution of the indenture, there has been a change in the applicable United States federal income tax law, in either case to the effect that, and based thereon such opinion shall confirm that, the holders of the debt securities of that series will not recognize income, gain or loss for United States federal income tax purposes as a result of the deposit, defeasance and discharge and will be subject to United States federal income tax on the same amounts and in the same manner and at the same times as would have been the case if the deposit, defeasance and discharge had not occurred. (Section 8.3)

 

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Defeasance of Certain Covenants.    The indenture provides that, unless otherwise provided by the terms of the applicable series of debt securities, upon compliance with certain conditions:

 

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we may omit to comply with the covenant described under the heading “Consolidation, Merger and Sale of Assets” and certain other covenants set forth in the indenture, as well as any additional covenants which may be set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement; and

 

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any omission to comply with those covenants will not constitute a Default or an Event of Default with respect to the debt securities of that series (“covenant defeasance”).

The conditions include:

 

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depositing with the trustee money and/or U.S. Government Obligations or, in the case of debt securities denominated in a single currency other than U.S. Dollars, Foreign Government Obligations, that, through the payment of interest and principal in accordance with their terms, will provide money in an amount sufficient in the opinion of a nationally recognized firm of independent public accountants to pay and discharge each installment of principal of, premium and interest on and any mandatory sinking fund payments in respect of the debt securities of that series on the stated maturity of those payments in accordance with the terms of the indenture and those debt securities; and

 

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delivering to the trustee an opinion of counsel to the effect that the holders of the debt securities of that series will not recognize income, gain or loss for United States federal income tax purposes as a result of the deposit and related covenant defeasance and will be subject to United States federal income tax on the same amounts and in the same manner and at the same times as would have been the case if the deposit and related covenant defeasance had not occurred. (Section 8.4)

Covenant Defeasance and Events of Default.    In the event we exercise our option to effect covenant defeasance with respect to any series of debt securities and the debt securities of that series are declared due and payable because of the occurrence of any Event of Default, the amount of money and/or U.S. Government Obligations or Foreign Government Obligations on deposit with the trustee will be sufficient to pay amounts due on the debt securities of that series at the time of their stated maturity but may not be sufficient to pay amounts due on the debt securities of that series at the time of the acceleration resulting from the Event of Default. However, we shall remain liable for those payments.

“Foreign Government Obligations” means, with respect to debt securities of any series that are denominated in a currency other than U.S. Dollars:

 

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direct obligations of the government that issued or caused to be issued such currency for the payment of which obligations its full faith and credit is pledged which are not callable or redeemable at the option of the issuer thereof; or

 

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obligations of a person controlled or supervised by or acting as an agency or instrumentality of that government the timely payment of which is unconditionally guaranteed as a full faith and credit obligation by that government which are not callable or redeemable at the option of the issuer thereof.

Governing Law

The indenture and the debt securities will be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the internal laws of the State of New York. (Section 10.10)

 

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DESCRIPTION OF WARRANTS

The following description, together with the additional information we include in any applicable prospectus supplement, summarizes the material terms and provisions of the warrants that we may offer under this prospectus, which consist of warrants to purchase ordinary shares and/or debt securities in one or more series. Warrants may be offered independently or together with ordinary shares and/or debt securities offered by any prospectus supplement, and may be attached to or separate from those securities.

While the terms we have summarized below will generally apply to any future warrants we may offer under this prospectus, we will describe the particular terms of any warrants that we may offer in more detail in the applicable prospectus supplement. The specific terms of any warrants may differ from the description provided below as a result of negotiations with third parties in connection with the issuance of those warrants, as well as for other reasons. Because the terms of any warrants we offer under a prospectus supplement may differ from the terms we describe below, you should rely solely on information in the applicable prospectus supplement if that summary is different from the summary in this prospectus.

We will issue the warrants under a warrant agreement, which we will enter into with a warrant agent to be selected by us. We use the term “warrant agreement” to refer to any of these warrant agreements. We use the term “warrant agent” to refer to the warrant agent under any of these warrant agreements. The warrant agent will act solely as an agent of ours in connection with the warrants and will not act as an agent for the holders or beneficial owners of the warrants.

We will incorporate by reference into the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part the form of warrant agreement, including a form of warrant certificate, that describes the terms of the series of warrants we are offering before the issuance of the related series of warrants. The following summaries of material provisions of the warrants and the warrant agreements are subject to, and qualified in their entirety by reference to, all the provisions of the warrant agreement applicable to a particular series of warrants. We urge you to read any applicable prospectus supplement related to the warrants that we sell under this prospectus, as well as the complete warrant agreement that contain the terms of the warrants and defines your rights as a warrant holder.

We will describe in the applicable prospectus supplement the terms relating to a series of warrants. If warrants for the purchase of debt securities are offered, the prospectus supplement will describe the following terms, to the extent applicable:

 

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the offering price and the aggregate number of warrants offered;

 

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the currencies in which the warrants are being offered;

 

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the designation, aggregate principal amount, currencies, denominations and terms of the series of debt securities that can be purchased if a holder exercises a warrant;

 

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the designation and terms of any series of debt securities with which the warrants are being offered and the number of warrants offered with each such debt security;

 

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the date on and after which the holder of the warrants can transfer them separately from the related series of debt securities;

 

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the terms of any rights to redeem or call the warrants;

 

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the date on which the right to exercise the warrants begins and the date on which that right expires;

 

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federal income tax consequences of holding or exercising the warrants; and

 

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any other specific terms, preferences, rights or limitations of, or restrictions on, the warrants.

Warrants for the purchase of debt securities will be in registered form only.

If warrants for the purchase of ordinary shares are offered, the prospectus supplement will describe the following terms, to the extent applicable:

 

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the offering price and the aggregate number of warrants offered;

 

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the total number of shares that can be purchased if a holder of the warrants exercises them;

 

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the date on and after which the holder of the warrants can transfer them separately from the related ordinary shares;

 

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the number of ordinary shares that can be purchased if a holder exercises the warrant and the price at which that ordinary share may be purchased upon exercise, including, if applicable, any provisions for changes to or adjustments in the exercise price and in the securities or other property receivable upon exercise;

 

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the terms of any rights to redeem or call, or accelerate the expiration of, the warrants;

 

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the date on which the right to exercise the warrants begins and the date on which that right expires;

 

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federal income tax consequences of holding or exercising the warrants; and

 

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any other specific terms, preferences, rights or limitations of, or restrictions on, the warrants.

Warrants for the purchase of ordinary shares will be in registered form only.

A holder of warrant certificates may exchange them for new certificates of different denominations, present them for registration of transfer and exercise them at the corporate trust office of the warrant agent or any other office indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement. Until any warrants to purchase debt securities are exercised, the holder of the warrants will not have any of the rights of holders of the debt securities that can be purchased upon exercise, including any rights to receive payments of principal, premium or interest on the underlying debt securities or to enforce covenants in the applicable indenture. Until any warrants to purchase ordinary shares are exercised, holders of the warrants will not have any rights of holders of the underlying ordinary shares, including any rights to receive dividends or to exercise any voting rights, except to the extent set forth under “— Warrant Adjustments” below.

Exercise of Warrants

Each holder of a warrant is entitled to purchase the principal amount of debt securities or number of ordinary shares, as the case may be, at the exercise price described in the applicable prospectus supplement. After the close of business on the day when the right to exercise terminates (or a later date if we extend the time for exercise), unexercised warrants will become void.

A holder of warrants may exercise them by following the general procedure outlined below:

 

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delivering to the warrant agent the payment required by the applicable prospectus supplement to purchase the underlying security;

 

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properly completing and signing the reverse side of the warrant certificate representing the warrants; and

 

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delivering the warrant certificate representing the warrants to the warrant agent within five business days of the warrant agent receiving payment of the exercise price.

If you comply with the procedures described above, your warrants will be considered to have been exercised when the warrant agent receives payment of the exercise price, subject to the transfer books for the securities issuable upon exercise of the warrant not being closed on such date. After you have completed those procedures and subject to the foregoing, we will, as soon as practicable, issue and deliver to you the debt securities or ordinary shares that you purchased upon exercise. If you exercise fewer than all of the warrants represented by a warrant certificate, a new warrant certificate will be issued to you for the unexercised amount of warrants. Holders of warrants will be required to pay any tax or governmental charge that may be imposed in connection with transferring the underlying securities in connection with the exercise of the warrants.

Amendments and Supplements to the Warrant Agreements

We may amend or supplement a warrant agreement without the consent of the holders of the applicable warrants to cure ambiguities in the warrant agreement, to cure or correct a defective provision in the warrant agreement, or to provide for other matters under the warrant agreement that we and the warrant agent deem necessary or desirable, so long as, in each case, such amendments or supplements do not materially adversely affect the interests of the holders of the warrants.

Warrant Adjustments

Unless the applicable prospectus supplement states otherwise, the exercise price of, and the number of securities covered by, an ordinary share warrant will be adjusted proportionately if we subdivide or combine our ordinary shares, as applicable. In addition, unless the prospectus supplement states otherwise, if we, without payment:

 

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issue ordinary shares or other securities convertible into or exchangeable for ordinary shares, or any rights to subscribe for, purchase or otherwise acquire any of the foregoing, as a dividend or distribution to all or substantially all holders of our ordinary shares;

 

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pay any cash to all or substantially all holders of our ordinary shares, other than a cash dividend paid out of our current or retained earnings;

 

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issue any evidence of our indebtedness or rights to subscribe for or purchase our indebtedness to all or substantially all holders of our ordinary shares; or

 

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issue ordinary shares or additional shares or other securities or property to all or substantially all holders of our ordinary shares by way of spinoff, split-up, reclassification, combination of shares or similar corporate rearrangement,

then the holders of ordinary share warrants will be entitled to receive upon exercise of the warrants, in addition to the securities otherwise receivable upon exercise of the warrants and without paying any additional consideration, the amount of shares and other securities and property such holders would have been entitled to receive had they held the ordinary shares issuable under the warrants on the dates on which holders of those securities received or became entitled to receive such additional shares and other securities and property.

Except as stated above, the exercise price and number of securities covered by an ordinary share warrant, and the amounts of other securities or property to be received, if any, upon exercise of those warrants, will not be adjusted or provided for if we issue those securities or any securities convertible into or exchangeable for those securities, or securities carrying the right to purchase those securities or securities convertible into or exchangeable for those securities.

 

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Holders of ordinary share warrants may have additional rights under the following circumstances:

 

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certain reclassifications, capital reorganizations or changes of the ordinary shares;

 

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certain share exchanges, mergers, or similar transactions involving us and which result in changes of the ordinary shares; or

 

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certain sales or dispositions to another entity of all or substantially all of our property and assets.

If one of the above transactions occurs and holders of our ordinary shares are entitled to receive shares, securities or other property with respect to or in exchange for their securities, the holders of the ordinary share warrants then outstanding, as applicable, will be entitled to receive upon exercise of their warrants the kind and amount of shares and other securities or property that they would have received upon the applicable transaction if they had exercised their warrants immediately before the transaction.

DESCRIPTION OF RIGHTS

The following description, together with the additional information we include in any applicable prospectus supplement, summarizes the general features of the rights that we may offer under this prospectus. We may issue rights to our shareholders to purchase our ordinary shares and/or any of the other securities offered hereby. Each series of rights will be issued under a separate rights agreement to be entered into between us and a bank or trust company, as rights agent. When we issue rights, we will provide the specific terms of the rights and the applicable rights agreement in a prospectus supplement. Because the terms of any rights we offer under a prospectus supplement may differ from the terms we describe below, you should rely solely on information in the applicable prospectus supplement if that summary is different from the summary in this prospectus. We will incorporate by reference into the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part the form of rights agreement that describes the terms of the series of rights we are offering before the issuance of the related series of rights.

If we offer any series of rights, certain terms of that series of rights will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement, including, without limitation, the following:

 

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the date of determining the shareholders entitled to the rights distribution;

 

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the securities purchasable upon exercise of the rights;

 

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the exercise price;

 

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the aggregate number of rights issued;

 

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the date, if any, on and after which the rights will be separately transferable;

 

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the date on which the right to exercise the rights will commence, and the date on which the right will expire;

 

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a discussion of certain United States federal income tax considerations applicable to the rights; and

 

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any other terms of the rights, including terms, procedures and limitations relating to the distribution, exchange and exercise of the rights.

Each right will entitle the holder of rights to purchase for cash the securities at the exercise price provided in the applicable prospectus supplement. Rights may be exercised at any time up to the close of business on the

 

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expiration date for the rights provided in the applicable prospectus supplement. After the close of business on the expiration date, all unexercised rights will be void.

Holders may exercise rights as described in the applicable prospectus supplement. Upon receipt of payment and the rights certificate properly completed and duly executed at the corporate trust office of the rights agent or any other office indicated in the prospectus supplement, we will, as soon as practicable, forward the securities purchasable upon exercise of the rights. If less than all of the rights issued in any rights offering are exercised, we may offer any unsubscribed securities directly to persons other than shareholders, to or through agents, underwriters or dealers or through a combination of such methods, including pursuant to standby underwriting arrangements, as described in the applicable prospectus supplement.

DESCRIPTION OF PURCHASE CONTRACTS

The following description, together with the additional information we include in any applicable prospectus supplement, summarizes the general features of the purchase contracts that we may offer under this prospectus. While the features we have summarized below will generally apply to any future purchase contracts we may offer under this prospectus, we will describe the particular terms of any purchase contracts that we may offer in more detail in the applicable prospectus supplement. The specific terms of any purchase contracts may differ from the description provided below as a result of negotiations with third parties in connection with the issuance of those purchase contracts, as well as for other reasons. Because the terms of any purchase contracts we offer under a prospectus supplement may differ from the terms we describe below, you should rely solely on information in the applicable prospectus supplement if that summary is different from the summary in this prospectus.

We will incorporate by reference into the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part the form of any purchase contract that we may offer under this prospectus before the sale of the related purchase contract. We urge you to read the applicable prospectus supplements related to the specific purchase contracts being offered, as well as the complete instruments that contain the terms of the securities that are subject to those purchase contracts. Certain of those instruments, or forms of those instruments, have been filed as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and supplements to those instruments or forms may be incorporated by reference into the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part from reports we file with the SEC.

We may issue purchase contracts, including contracts obligating holders to purchase from us, and for us to sell to holders, a specific or variable number of our, or an unaffiliated entity’s, securities at a future date or dates. Alternatively, the purchase contracts may obligate us to purchase from holders, and obligate holders to sell to us, a specific or varying number of our securities. When we issue purchase contracts, we will provide the specific terms of the purchase contracts in a prospectus supplement. A copy of the applicable form of purchase contract will be included as an exhibit to a report we file with the SEC incorporated by reference herein.

If we offer any purchase contracts, certain terms of that series of purchase contracts will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement, including, without limitation, the following:

 

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the price of the securities or other property subject to the purchase contracts (which may be determined by reference to a specific formula described in the purchase contracts);

 

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whether the purchase contracts are issued separately, or as a part of units each consisting of a purchase contract and one or more of our other securities or securities of an unaffiliated entity, including U.S. Treasury securities, securing the holder’s obligations under the purchase contract;

 

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any requirement for us to make periodic payments to holders or vice versa, and whether the payments are unsecured or pre–funded;

 

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any provisions relating to any security provided for the purchase contracts;

 

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whether the purchase contracts obligate the holder or us to purchase or sell, or both purchase and sell, the securities subject to purchase under the purchase contract, and the nature and amount of each of those securities, or the method of determining those amounts;

 

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whether the purchase contracts are to be prepaid or not;

 

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whether the purchase contracts are to be settled by delivery, or by reference or linkage to the value, performance or level of the securities subject to purchase under the purchase contract;

 

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any acceleration, cancellation, termination or other provisions relating to the settlement of the purchase contracts;

 

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a discussion of certain United States federal income tax considerations applicable to the purchase contracts;

 

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whether the purchase contracts will be issued in fully registered or global form; and

 

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any other terms of the purchase contracts and any securities subject to such purchase contracts.

DESCRIPTION OF UNITS

The following description, together with the additional information we include in any applicable prospectus supplement, summarizes the general features of the units that we may offer under this prospectus. We may issue units consisting of two or more other constituent securities. These units may be issuable as, and for a specified period of time may be transferable only as a single security, rather than as the separate constituent securities comprising such units. While the features we have summarized below will generally apply to any units we may offer under this prospectus, we will describe the particular terms of any units that we may offer in more detail in the applicable prospectus supplement. The specific terms of any units may differ from the description provided below as a result of negotiations with third parties in connection with the issuance of those units, as well as for other reasons. Because the terms of any units we offer under a prospectus supplement may differ from the terms we describe below, you should rely solely on information in the applicable prospectus supplement if that summary is different from the summary in this prospectus.

We urge you to read the applicable prospectus supplement related to the specific units being offered, as well as the complete instruments that contain the terms of the securities that comprise those units. Certain of those instruments, or forms of those instruments, have been or will be filed as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, and supplements to those instruments or forms may be incorporated by reference into the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part from reports we file with the SEC.

If we offer any units, certain terms of that series of units will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement, including, without limitation, the following, as applicable:

 

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the title of the series of units;

 

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identification and description of the separate constituent securities comprising the units;

 

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the price or prices at which the units will be issued;

 

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the date, if any, on and after which the constituent securities comprising the units will be separately transferable;

 

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a discussion of certain United States federal income tax considerations applicable to the units; and

 

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any other terms of the units and their constituent securities.

GLOBAL SECURITIES

Book-Entry, Delivery and Form

Unless we indicate differently in a prospectus supplement, the securities initially will be issued in book-entry form and represented by one or more global notes or global securities, or, collectively, global securities. The global securities will be deposited with, or on behalf of, The Depository Trust Company, New York, New York, as depositary, or DTC, and registered in the name of Cede & Co., the nominee of DTC. Unless and until it is exchanged for individual certificates evidencing securities under the limited circumstances described below, a global security may not be transferred except as a whole by the depositary to its nominee or by the nominee to the depositary, or by the depositary or its nominee to a successor depositary or to a nominee of the successor depositary.

DTC has advised us that it is:

 

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a limited-purpose trust company organized under the New York Banking Law;

 

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a “banking organization” within the meaning of the New York Banking Law;

 

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a member of the Federal Reserve System;

 

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a “clearing corporation” within the meaning of the New York Uniform Commercial Code; and

 

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a “clearing agency” registered pursuant to the provisions of Section 17A of the Exchange Act.

DTC holds securities that its participants deposit with DTC. DTC also facilitates the settlement among its participants of securities transactions, such as transfers and pledges, in deposited securities through electronic computerized book-entry changes in participants’ accounts, thereby eliminating the need for physical movement of securities certificates. “Direct participants” in DTC include securities brokers and dealers, including underwriters, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and other organizations. DTC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, or DTCC. DTCC is the holding company for DTC, National Securities Clearing Corporation and Fixed Income Clearing Corporation, all of which are registered clearing agencies. DTCC is owned by the users of its regulated subsidiaries. Access to the DTC system is also available to others, which we sometimes refer to as indirect participants, that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a direct participant, either directly or indirectly. The rules applicable to DTC and its participants are on file with the SEC.

Purchases of securities under the DTC system must be made by or through direct participants, which will receive a credit for the securities on DTC’s records. The ownership interest of the actual purchaser of a security, which we sometimes refer to as a beneficial owner, is in turn recorded on the direct and indirect participants’ records. Beneficial owners of securities will not receive written confirmation from DTC of their purchases. However, beneficial owners are expected to receive written confirmations providing details of their transactions, as well as periodic statements of their holdings, from the direct or indirect participants through which they purchased securities. Transfers of ownership interests in global securities are to be accomplished by entries made on the books of participants acting on behalf of beneficial owners. Beneficial owners will not receive certificates representing their ownership interests in the global securities, except under the limited circumstances described below.

 

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To facilitate subsequent transfers, all global securities deposited by direct participants with DTC will be registered in the name of DTC’s partnership nominee, Cede & Co., or such other name as may be requested by an authorized representative of DTC. The deposit of securities with DTC and their registration in the name of Cede & Co. or such other nominee will not change the beneficial ownership of the securities. DTC has no knowledge of the actual beneficial owners of the securities. DTC’s records reflect only the identity of the direct participants to whose accounts the securities are credited, which may or may not be the beneficial owners. The participants are responsible for keeping account of their holdings on behalf of their customers.

So long as the securities are in book-entry form, you will receive payments and may transfer securities only through the facilities of the depositary and its direct and indirect participants. We will maintain an office or agency in the location specified in the prospectus supplement for the applicable securities, where notices and demands in respect of the securities and the indenture may be delivered to us and where certificated securities may be surrendered for payment, registration of transfer or exchange.

Conveyance of notices and other communications by DTC to direct participants, by direct participants to indirect participants and by direct participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners will be governed by arrangements among them, subject to any legal requirements in effect from time to time.

Redemption notices will be sent to DTC. If less than all of the securities of a particular series are being redeemed, DTC’s practice is to determine by lot the amount of the interest of each direct participant in the securities of such series to be redeemed.

Neither DTC nor Cede & Co. (or such other DTC nominee) will consent or vote with respect to the securities. Under its usual procedures, DTC will mail an omnibus proxy to us as soon as possible after the record date. The omnibus proxy assigns the consenting or voting rights of Cede & Co. to those direct participants to whose accounts the securities of such series are credited on the record date, identified in a listing attached to the omnibus proxy.

So long as securities are in book-entry form, we will make payments on those securities to the depositary or its nominee, as the registered owner of such securities, by wire transfer of immediately available funds. If securities are issued in definitive certificated form under the limited circumstances described below, we will have the option of making payments by check mailed to the addresses of the persons entitled to payment or by wire transfer to bank accounts in the United States designated in writing to the applicable trustee or other designated party at least 15 days before the applicable payment date by the persons entitled to payment.

Redemption proceeds, distributions and dividend payments on the securities will be made to Cede & Co., or such other nominee as may be requested by an authorized representative of DTC. DTC’s practice is to credit direct participants’ accounts upon DTC’s receipt of funds and corresponding detail information from us on the payment date in accordance with their respective holdings shown on DTC records. Payments by participants to beneficial owners will be governed by standing instructions and customary practices, as is the case with securities held for the account of customers in bearer form or registered in “street name.” Those payments will be the responsibility of participants and not of DTC or us, subject to any statutory or regulatory requirements in effect from time to time. Payment of redemption proceeds, distributions and dividend payments to Cede & Co., or such other nominee as may be requested by an authorized representative of DTC, is our responsibility, disbursement of payments to direct participants is the responsibility of DTC, and disbursement of payments to the beneficial owners is the responsibility of direct and indirect participants.

Except under the limited circumstances described below, purchasers of securities will not be entitled to have securities registered in their names and will not receive physical delivery of securities. Accordingly, each beneficial owner must rely on the procedures of DTC and its participants to exercise any rights under the securities and the indenture.

The laws of some jurisdictions may require that some purchasers of securities take physical delivery of securities in definitive form. Those laws may impair the ability to transfer or pledge beneficial interests in securities.

 

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DTC may discontinue providing its services as securities depository with respect to the securities at any time by giving reasonable notice to us. Under such circumstances, in the event that a successor depository is not obtained, securities certificates are required to be printed and delivered.

As noted above, beneficial owners of a particular series of securities generally will not receive certificates representing their ownership interests in those securities. However, if:

 

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DTC notifies us that it is unwilling or unable to continue as a depositary for the global security or securities representing such series of securities or if DTC ceases to be a clearing agency registered under the Exchange Act at a time when it is required to be registered and a successor depositary is not appointed within 90 days of the notification to us or of our becoming aware of DTC’s ceasing to be so registered, as the case may be;

 

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we determine, in our sole discretion, not to have such securities represented by one or more global securities; or

 

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an Event of Default has occurred and is continuing with respect to such series of securities,

we will prepare and deliver certificates for such securities in exchange for beneficial interests in the global securities. Any beneficial interest in a global security that is exchangeable under the circumstances described in the preceding sentence will be exchangeable for securities in definitive certificated form registered in the names that the depositary directs. It is expected that these directions will be based upon directions received by the depositary from its participants with respect to ownership of beneficial interests in the global securities.

We have obtained the information in this section and elsewhere in this prospectus concerning DTC and DTC’s book-entry system from sources that are believed to be reliable, but we take no responsibility for the accuracy of this information.

SELLING SECURITYHOLDERS

If the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part is used by selling securityholders for the resale of any securities registered thereunder pursuant to a registration rights agreement between us and such selling securityholders or otherwise, information about such selling securityholders, their beneficial ownership of our securities and their relationship with us will be set forth in a prospectus supplement, in a post-effective amendment, or in filings we make with the SEC under the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference into such registration statement.

PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION

We, or selling securityholders, may sell the securities from time to time pursuant to underwritten public offerings, negotiated transactions, block trades or a combination of these methods or through underwriters or dealers, through agents and/or directly to one or more purchasers. The securities may be distributed from time to time in one or more transactions:

 

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at a fixed price or prices, which may be changed;

 

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at market prices prevailing at the time of sale;

 

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at prices related to such prevailing market prices; or

 

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at negotiated prices.

 

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Each time that we sell securities covered by this prospectus, we will provide a prospectus supplement or supplements that will describe the method of distribution and set forth the terms and conditions of the offering of such securities, including the offering price of the securities and the proceeds to us and/or the selling securityholders, if applicable.

Offers to purchase the securities being offered by this prospectus may be solicited directly. Agents may also be designated to solicit offers to purchase the securities from time to time. Any agent involved in the offer or sale of our securities will be identified in a prospectus supplement.

If a dealer is utilized in the sale of the securities being offered by this prospectus, the securities will be sold to the dealer, as principal. The dealer may then resell the securities to the public at varying prices to be determined by the dealer at the time of resale.

If an underwriter is utilized in the sale of the securities being offered by this prospectus, an underwriting agreement will be executed with the underwriter at the time of sale and the name of any underwriter will be provided in the prospectus supplement that the underwriter will use to make resales of the securities to the public. In connection with the sale of the securities, we, or selling securityholders, or the purchasers of securities for whom the underwriter may act as agent, may compensate the underwriter in the form of underwriting discounts or commissions. The underwriter may sell the securities to or through dealers, and those dealers may receive compensation in the form of discounts, concessions or commissions from the underwriters and/or commissions from the purchasers for which they may act as agent. Unless otherwise indicated in a prospectus supplement, an agent will be acting on a best efforts basis and a dealer will purchase securities as a principal, and may then resell the securities at varying prices to be determined by the dealer.

Any compensation paid to underwriters, dealers or agents in connection with the offering of the securities, and any discounts, concessions or commissions allowed by underwriters to participating dealers will be provided in the applicable prospectus supplement. Underwriters, dealers and agents participating in the distribution of the securities may be deemed to be underwriters within the meaning of the Securities Act, and any discounts and commissions received by them and any profit realized by them on resale of the securities may be deemed to be underwriting discounts and commissions. We may enter into agreements to indemnify underwriters, dealers and agents against civil liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, or to contribute to payments they may be required to make in respect thereof and to reimburse those persons for certain expenses.

The securities may or may not be listed on a national securities exchange. To facilitate the offering of securities, certain persons participating in the offering may engage in transactions that stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the price of the securities. This may include over-allotments or short sales of the securities, which involve the sale by persons participating in the offering of more securities than were sold to them. In these circumstances, these persons would cover such over-allotments or short positions by making purchases in the open market or by exercising their over-allotment option, if any. In addition, these persons may stabilize or maintain the price of the securities by bidding for or purchasing securities in the open market or by imposing penalty bids, whereby selling concessions allowed to dealers participating in the offering may be reclaimed if securities sold by them are repurchased in connection with stabilization transactions. The effect of these transactions may be to stabilize or maintain the market price of the securities at a level above that which might otherwise prevail in the open market. These transactions may be discontinued at any time.

If indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement, underwriters or other persons acting as agents may be authorized to solicit offers by institutions or other suitable purchasers to purchase the securities at the public offering price set forth in the prospectus supplement, pursuant to delayed delivery contracts providing for payment and delivery on the date or dates stated in the prospectus supplement. These purchasers may include, among others, commercial and savings banks, insurance companies, pension funds, investment companies and educational and charitable institutions. Delayed delivery contracts will be subject to the condition that the purchase of

the securities covered by the delayed delivery contracts will not at the time of delivery be prohibited under the laws of any jurisdiction in the United States to which the purchaser is subject. The underwriters and agents will not have any responsibility with respect to the validity or performance of these contracts.

 

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We may engage in at the market offerings into an existing trading market in accordance with Rule 415(a)(4) under the Securities Act. In addition, we may enter into derivative transactions with third parties, or sell securities not covered by this prospectus to third parties in privately negotiated transactions. If the applicable prospectus supplement so indicates, in connection with those derivatives, the third parties may sell securities covered by this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement, including in short sale transactions. If so, the third party may use securities pledged by us or borrowed from us or others to settle those sales or to close out any related open borrowings of ordinary shares, and may use securities received from us in settlement of those derivatives to close out any related open borrowings of ordinary shares. The third party in such sale transactions will be an underwriter and, if not identified in this prospectus, will be identified in the applicable prospectus supplement (or a post — effective amendment). In addition, we may otherwise loan or pledge securities to a financial institution or other third party that in turn may sell the securities short using this prospectus and an applicable prospectus supplement. Such financial institution or other third party may transfer its economic short position to investors in our securities or in connection with a concurrent offering of other securities.

The specific terms of any lock-up provisions in respect of any given offering will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement.

The underwriters, dealers and agents may engage in transactions with us, or perform services for us, in the ordinary course of business for which they receive compensation.

LEGAL MATTERS

Certain legal matters relating to the issuance and sale of the securities with respect to Singapore law will be passed upon for us by WongPartnership LLP. Certain legal matters relating to the issuance and sale of the securities with respect to U.S. law will be passed upon for us by Latham & Watkins LLP, Menlo Park, California. Partners of Latham & Watkins LLP, members of their respective families, related persons and others have an indirect interest, through limited partnerships that are investors in funds affiliated with KKR, in less than 1% of our ordinary shares.

EXPERTS

The consolidated financial statements incorporated in this prospectus by reference to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended November 1, 2009 have been so incorporated in reliance on the report of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, given on the authority of said firm as experts in auditing and accounting.

 

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