Reorganized Spansion gets investment of undisclosed size from Silver Lake Sumeru

Spansion gets investment from Silver Lake Sumeru

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Silver Lake Sumeru, the middle-market investment group of private equity firm Silver Lake said Tuesday that it invested in flash memory drive maker Spansion Inc., which just completed a reorganization related to its filing for bankruptcy protection more than a year ago.

The size of the investment was not disclosed.

Spansion filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2009, hurt as the global economic weakness resulted in lower electronics sales. The company said in April that a court overruled objections to its plan to reorganize and said Monday that it completed its reorganization.

Spansion started its reorganization with more than $1.5 billion in debt and now has less than $480 million in debt, the company said, as well as $230 million in cash and a $65 million credit line.

Silver Lake Sumeru said it will name two Spansion board members to help Spansion in its effort to streamline its business. The company said last year that it would focus on flash memory products, Internet Protocol services, and profitable parts of its wireless division.