Shanghai Daily: Business - shanghaidaily.com
GARMIN Ltd, the largest maker of car-navigation devices in the United Sates, has withdrawn its bid for Tele Atlas NV, clearing the way for rival TomTom NV to buy the map maker for US$4.25 billion. Both Garmin and TomTom shares rose at the news. Instead of raising its US$3.3 billion offer, Garmin struck a six-year deal to get maps from Tele Atlas rival Navteq Corp, with an option to extend it by another four, the Grand Cayman-based company said. Garmin avoided the burden of absorbing money-losing Tele Atlas while extracting better terms from Navteq, Dougherty & Co analyst Jeff Evanson told Bloomberg News. Garmin can focus on building traffic information and business listings into its products without having to pay to develop the underlying maps, he added. Garmin shares rose 16 percent to US$97.51 while Amsterdam-based TomTom saw a six-percent increase to 60.15 euros (US$88). Tele Atlas shares fell by 8.6 percent to 29.33 euros (US$42.9). In the longer term, TomTom may have an