UPDATE 1-Exar to buy Hifn in $59 mln deal

Feb 23 (Reuters) - Semiconductor company Exar Corp (EXAR.O) said it agreed to buy Hifn Inc HIFN.O, a provider of data compression and encryption technology, in a deal valued at about $59 million.

Exar stockholders will pay either 0.3529 shares of their common stock and $1.60 in cash, or $4.00 in cash, to Hifn shareholders, representing a premium of about 67 percent to the closing price of Hifn's shares of $2.39 Monday on Nasdaq.

Hifn Chief Executive Officer Al Sisto will join the board of Exar, the two companies said in a statement.

Shares of Exar closed down more than 5 percent at $5.81 Monday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Mansi Dutta in Bangalore; Editing by Anil D'Silva)