Bidding war over digital map maker continues

TomTom, the world's second large market of personal navigation devices, has raised its acquisition offer for Tele Atlas to €30 per share, or €2.7bn.

Tele Atlas sells digital mapping information to companies ranging from TomTom and Garmin to Google and Microsoft. Both Garmin and TomTom are determined to take over the company, because they view ownership of digital maps as a crucial aspect of their business.

The new offer marks a 22 per cent premium over last week's €24.50 per share offer by Garmin that is valued at €2.3bn. Garmin is the world's largest PND maker.

TomTom first announced it intention to buy Tele Atlas in July when it offered to purchase the digital map maker for €1.8bn.

Tele Altas is the only independent digital map provider after Nokia's €5.4bn acquisition of Navteq last October.

In addition to raising its offer, TomTom also said that it would acquire 28.3 per cent of Tele Atlas stock at €30 per share. The transaction included a 17.4 per cent stake that has already been committed to a TomTom acquisition.

Garmin didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.