Freescale Semiconductor explores sale: source

(Reuters) - Chip maker Freescale Semiconductor is exploring a sale, a person close to the matter said on Friday, the latest example of a company looking to ride the consolidation wave sweeping the sector.

The parties that Freescale is speaking to could not be learned. The New York Post first reported that Freescale was working with investment banks to explore a sale. Freescale shares were up 8.5 percent at $37.66 in morning trading, giving it a market value of $11.5 billion.

The Reuters source asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential. A Freescale representative did not respond to a request for comment.

Vendors of chips and their customers are looking to keep costs as low as possible, so semiconductor manufacturers are on the hunt for deals that make them more competitive and bolster their relationships with industrial, technology and telecommunications clients.

Freescale went public in 2011 after it was taken private in 2006 for $17.6 billion in a leveraged buyout by a group of private equity firms that included Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group and TPG Capital. The buyout firms still own 64 percent of Freescale.

(Reporting by Zara Mascarenhas in Bengaluru and Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Editing by Sunil Nair)