WIlsonville's Mentor Graphics Sells for $4.5 Billion

Mentor Graphics, the Wilsonville-based technology giant with offices in 32 countries, is selling itself to German engineering conglomerate Siemens for $4.5 billion.

Started in 1981, Mentor - which makes software that helps other companies design and test semiconductor chips before they start the manufacturing process - employees about 1,000 people at its headquarters in Wilsonville. It has around another 4,700 employees around the world.

"Combining Mentor’s technology leadership and deep customer relationships with Siemens' global scale and resources will better enable us to serve the growing needs of our customers, and unlock additional significant opportunities for our employees,” said Walden C. Rhines, who has been chairman and CEO of Mentor since 1993.

He says that Siemens plans to keep the Mentor name as well as the headquarters in Wilsonville.

The company had been under pressure to improve the performance of its stock and twice previously had been the target of a takeover.

Photo Mentor Graphics