本研究探討EDA產業頻繁併購之緣由及美商新思科技(Synopsys)併購台灣思源科技(SpringSoft)之併購價格。EDA 代表電子設計自動化軟體(Electronic Design Automation)。EDA產業三大特性: 創新為經營之本，人才之高度需求，以及高市場開發成本促使併購活動之興盛。本研究並採用兩種最常運用之企業評價方法，類似公司比較法(Comparable Company Approach)及自由現金流量折現法(Discounted Cash Flow Approach)推算併購價格。研究結果顯示，自由現金流量折現法反應對被併購公司未來之期許，而配合敏感度分析(Sensitive Analysis)，則提供合理且彈性之價格區間。實際併購交易價格亦落在此區間中，由此可證在衡量併購價格時，自由現金流量折現法為最實用之評價方法。

This study looks into the reasons behind frequent acquisitions in EDA industry and analyzes acquisition price of SpringSoft by Synopsys. EDA stands for Electronic Design Automation. Three industry features are concluded to explain the frequent acquisitions, including innovation is the basic element to survive, high demand on intelligent human capital, and high market development cost. For acquisition price analysis, two of the most common valuation approaches, Comparable Company Approach and Discounted Cash Flow Approach, were applied to generate the reasonable range of per share equity value. This study found that Discounted Cash Flow Approach reflects the forward-looking expectation of the acquirers. With the addition of sensitive analysis, Discounted Cash Flow Approach provides a flexible and reasonable range where the executed acquition price falls into. It is concluded that Discounted Cash Flow Approach is a practical way to evaluate the subject company under acquisitions.

Abstract I
中文摘要 II
Acknowledgement III
Table of Contents IV
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 Background 1
1.2 Research Motivation and Objective 2
1.3 Organization of the Thesis 3
Chapter 2 Literature Review 4
2.1 Acquisition Valuation 4
2.2 Equity Value 4
2.3 Enterprise Value (EV) 5
2.4 Comparable Company Approach 5
2.5 Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Approach 6
2.5.1 Unlevered Free Cash Flow (UFCF) 6
2.5.2 Discount Rate 6
2.5.3 Weighted-average Cost of Capital (WACC) 7
2.5.4 Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) 8
2.5.5 Terminal Value 9
Chapter 3 EDA Industry and Case Introduction 11
3.1 EDA Industry Introduction 11
3.2 Current Leaders in EDA Industry 12
3.3 Frequent Acquisitions in EDA Industry 13
3.4 Synopsys Introduction 14
3.4.1 The Company 14
3.4.2 Competitors 14
3.4.3 Acquisition History 15
3.5 SpringSoft Introduction 18
3.5.1 The Company 18
3.5.2 Acquisition by Synopsys 19
Chapter 4 Acquisition Valuation Analysis 20
4.1 Determination of Valuation Date 20
4.2 Selection of Valuation Approach 20
4.3 Comparable Company Approach 21
4.3.1 Selection of Comparable Companies 21
4.3.2 Calculation of Acquisition Price 22
4.4 Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Approach 23
4.4.1 Determination of Unlevered Free Cash Flows 24
4.4.2 Determination of Discount Rate 25
4.4.3 Determination of the Net Present Value of Total Unlevered Cash Flow 26
4.4.4 Determination of Terminal Value 27
4.4.5 Determination of Equity Value 28
4.4.6 Sensitivity Analysis 28
4.5 Valuation Summary 29
Chapter 5 Concluded Remark and Future Research Directions 30
5.1 Concluded Remark 30
5.1.1 Executed Acquisition Price is within Reasonable Range 30
5.1.2 Multiples Applied in Comparable Company Approach Implies Uncertainty 30
5.1.3 DCF Approach is More Practical on Acquisition Valuation. 32
5.1.4 Better Understanding Makes Better Acquisition Valuation 33
5.1.5 Post-acquisition Overview 33
5.2 Limitations of This Study 34
5.3 Future Research Directions 35
5.3.1 Future Development of the Whole EDA Industry 35
5.3.2 Valuation Analysis from Both the Buy Side and the Sell Side 35
References 36

Cadence. (2014, March 3). About Cadence. Retrieved from Cadence: http://www.cadence.com/cadence/Pages/default.aspx
Chang, L.-C. (2011). Growth Models of EDA Vendors. Hsinchu: Master Thesis of National Chiao Tung University.
ChangEric. (2007). The Effect of the Fubon-Taipei Bank Merger on Peer Institutions. Tainan: Mater Thesis of National Cheng Kung University.
Damodaran, A. (2014, March 1). What is Valuation. Retrieved from Damodaran Online: http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/
Desai, K. S. (2005). EDA Innovation through Merger and Acquisitions. Retrieved from EDA Cafe: http://www10.edacafe.com/nbc/articles/view_article.php?articleid=301031&page_no=1
EDA Consortium. (2014 a, March 3). About the EDA Industry. Retrieved from EDA Consortium: http://www.edac.org/industry
EDA Consortium. (2014 b, January 14). EDA Consortium Report Quarterly Revenue Increase for Q3 2013. Retrieved from EDA Consortium: http://www.edac.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/pressreleases2014/MSS_Q3_2013_PressRelease_Final.pdf
Goodinfo. (2014, May 3). 2473 SpringSoft. Retrieved from Goodinfo: http://goodinfo.tw/StockInfo/index.asp
ICights. (2012, July 16). Porter’s five forces analysis of the EDA industry. Retrieved from ICights: http://icights.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/porters-five-forces-analysis-of-the-eda-industry-4/
International Monetary Fund. (2014, March 29). World Economic Outlook Database, October 2013. Retrieved from International Monetary Fund: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2013/02/weodata/download.aspx
NASDAQ. (2014 a, March 7). Synopsys, Inc. Stock Quote & Summary Data. Retrieved from NASDAQ: http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/snps
NASDAQ. (2014 b, March 7). Cadence, Inc. Stock Quote & Summary Data. Retrieved from NASDAQ: http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/cdns
NASDAQ. (2014 c, March 7). Mentor Graphics Corporation Stock Quote & Summary Data. Retrieved from NASDAQ: http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/ment
Pignataro, P. (2013). Financial Modeling & Valuation A Practical Guide to Investment Banking and Private Equity. New Jersey: John Wiley& Sons, Inc.
Schief, M., Buxmann, P., & Schiereck, D. (2013, December). Mergers and Acquisitions in the Software Industry. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 5(6), 421-431.
Søiberg, T. M., & Løvsø, S. M. (2013). Innovation through competence-based acquisitions: The case of Synopsys. Copenhagen: Master Thesis of Copenhagen Business School.
Sperling, E. (2013, October 24). Buying And Selling EDA Companies. Retrieved from Semiconductor Engineering: http://semiengineering.com/buying-selling-eda-companies/
Su, C.-y. (2012). Price Evaluation of Merger & Acquisition-A case study of the acquisition of VSEA by AMAT. Hsinchu: Master Thesis of National Tsing Hua University.
Synopsys. (2014 a, February 20). Synopsys Company Profile. Retrieved from Synopsys: http://www.synopsys.com/Company/AboutSynopsys/Pages/CompanyProfile.aspx#mergers
Synopsys. (2014 b). Synopsys Annual Report for the Year ended October 31, 2013. Mountain View: Synopsys.
wikinvest. (2014, April 16). wikinvest. Retrieved from wikinvest: https://www.wikinvest.com/?type=classic
Wikipedia. (2014, March 3). Electronic design automation. Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_design_automation
Wu, C. (2013). DCF approach. In C. Wu, Business valuation: cases studies analysis (pp. 157-158). Taipei: BestWise Co.,Ltd.