LONDON – Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV has announced it is selling its entire stake in NXP Semiconductors BV, formerly its chip making division, nominally worth about $450 million. However, Philips will be providing the cash for the sale.

Philips (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) said it would make a cash contribution of 350 million euro (about $450 million) to the Philips UK pension fund, as part of a recovery plan for the fund. The trustees of the fund would then use the money to purchase Philips' entire stake in NXP (Eindhoven, The Netherlands). This was 19.9 percent of NXP prior to dilution due to an initial public offering of shares in June (see Interview: NXP's Clemmer on IPO, future challenges)

The sale of the NXP shares will lead to a nominal 140 million euro (about $180 million) gain from the recorded value of the stake that Philips will report under financial income in the third quarter of 2010, Philips said.