Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) and BenQ today announced that the companies have signed an agreement, under which Motorola will acquire from BenQ, a state-of-the-art research and development center, associated development and test equipment, and a team of product development engineers in Aalborg, Denmark. The Aalborg facility and team will be integrated into Motorola’s Mobile Devices business and become a product development center for Motorola. These resources will enhance Motorola’s effort to deliver breakthrough products and experiences that integrate the best internal and partner technologies. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The closing is expected to take place in early June.

Located in the “Danish Silicon Valley,” the Aalborg facility features state-of-the-art measurement facilities, including antenna chambers, acoustical chambers, radio frequency chambers, environmental laboratories and measuring facilities related to mechanical development. The main facility in Aalborg is currently owned by a Danish Pension Fund and leased to Siemens Real Estate who leases it to BenQ. Motorola expects to enter into a lease directly with Siemens at closing.

As part of the transaction, Motorola will acquire approximately 250 employees, the majority of whom are engineers.

“This transaction provides Motorola with another highly skilled R&D team and high-tech facility with a proven product track record,” said Ron Garriques, president of Motorola Mobile Devices.

“This acquisition will enhance Motorola’s capabilities in mobile phone development, software application development and antenna technology,” Garriques said. “The Aalborg team will support Motorola’s development of innovative new mobile devices that increase our ability to deliver breakthrough products and experiences that integrate the technologies of both Motorola and our strategic partners.”

Through the sale of the R&D-Site to Motorola BenQ Mobile continues its restructuring strategy. In March, BenQ Mobile announced its decision to centralize German development activities at the sites in Munich and Kamp-Lintfort/Northrhine-Westphalia and to relocate its R&D employees from Ulm to Munich until end of May. “One of our targets is to streamline operations and to simplify our fragmented product development assignments through the consolidation to major sites. By offloading complexity in R&D, we will be able to more quickly develop new handsets and to launch products earlier in the competitive handset market,” said Clemens Joos, CEO of BenQ Mobile. Besides Munich and Kamp-Lintfort in Germany and Wroclav in Poland, BenQ-Siemens handsets are also developed at Asian sites in China & Taiwan and in Brazil. “With the sale of the R&D-Site in Aalborg/Denmark, we found an ideal solution for the employees and make a further important step to be in the black by the end of the year,” underlined Clemens Joos.

This transaction does not include any business, products or other assets from BenQ, including any intellectual property, manufacturing or supply relationships, or sales and administrative capabilities. In addition, Motorola is not acquiring any of BenQ capital, liabilities or financial obligations.

US vendor Motorola is believed to be interested in Siemens’ mobile division, according to a report in Germany’s Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper over the weekend.

Motorola is reportedly eyeing the German vendor’s profitable mobile division, however Siemens is only believed to be considering offers for its entire Com unit, which includes a number of loss making fixed line activities. Finnish firm Nokia is also rumoured to have expressed an interest in the unit.

Pressure has been mounting on the German vendor to spin off its Information and Communications unit, which in February reported a 13 per cent drop in profits.

The drop, from Euro372m (US $451m) in the three months to the end-December 2004, to Euro323m during the same period in 2005, has prompted shareholders to ask tough questions on the future of the unit.

Shareholder’s calls for the unit to be spun off were bolstered by the banking sector which anticipates the Com unit having a higher value if it is taken out of the Siemens group.

Siemens has acknowledged that the division is still some way off the margin targets set for it by Siemens CEO Klaus Kleinfeld through 2007.

Siemens’ reluctance to part with the networks division may also be explained by its recent exit from the mobile handset space.

In June 2005 the company reached an agreement to sell its struggling handset business to Taiwanese manufacturer BenQ. The transaction saw Siemens acquire new shares in BenQ, worth Euro50m, or around 2.5% of the parent company.

Dan Bieler, analyst with Ovum noted: “Ever since Klaus Kleinfeld became CEO of Siemens, there have been plenty of rumours about a partial sale of the Com division.

“So, are these rumours credible? Some financial analysts we have spoken to already view the Com division as separate from the rest of Siemens. They attribute relatively low values to the Com division in relation to Siemens group. Moreover, with sales of about Eur13bn, even a complete sale of Com looks possible from a pricing perspective, given the sort of deals seen in the ICT segment in recent months.”

The question now is, “which company is prepared to take on “problem” divisions to get its hands on the nice bits,” Bieler said. The Com unit also has 55,000 staff, many of whom are thought to be on relatively employee friendly contracts.

Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo will be striking for BenQ Mobile. The exceptional 29-year-old Real Madrid athlete will be used as a testimonial for BenQ Mobile for the first time in spring 2006. BenQ Mobile joined hands with Ronaldo as he embodies all the attributes of the BenQ-Siemens brand: He’s challenging, original, authentic, vibrant and joyful.

Ronaldo will promote the high-end 3G phone BenQ-Siemens EF81 in TV commercials and advertisements starting April 2006. The BenQ-Siemens EF81 is the first mobile phone under the new BenQ-Siemens brand. Furthermore, a special Ronaldo mobile is also available ( C75 Ronaldo Limited Edition ) which contains exclusive picture material and shows an autograph of the star on the back of the phone.

Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima, known as Ronaldo or also “Il Phenomeno” for short, is not just one of the best-known soccer players of our day. He also ranks among the best footballers of all times. His long list of achievements includes: 3 times FIFA World Player of the Year ( 1996, 1997 and 2002 ), Twice European Footballer of the Year ( 1997 and 2002 ), Twice in World Cup Winners’ Squad with Brazil ( 1994, 2002 ) and 6 times Top Goal Scorer of the Year in various leagues and championships.

“Like our mobile phones, Ronaldo stands for the highest level of precision, maximum performance, superior quality and an exclusive lifestyle. In addition, he is the perfect complement to our recently announced sponsorship of the Real Madrid soccer team. We look forward to having him on board as another strong player in the BenQ Mobile team”, said BenQ Mobile CEO Clemens Joos.

BenQ Mobile is an industry leader in wireless communication devices with a high lifestyle appeal. Headquartered in Munich ( Germany ), the company is one of three business groups of BenQ Corporation and a trademark licensee of Siemens AG.