Avnet's $911 mln deal for Premier Farnell trumps rival bid

* Avnet (NYSE: AVT - news) bid trumps offer from Switzerland's Daetwyler

* 185 pence/shr offer at 12.5 pct premium to closing price

* Premier Farnell (LSE: PFL.L - news) shares trade above offer price (Adds company, analyst comments, background, updates share prices)

By Sanjeeban Sarkar

July 28 (Reuters) - U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . electric component distributor Avnet Inc has agreed to buy Premier Farnell Plc for 691 million pounds ($911 million), trumping an earlier offer from Daetwyler Holding AG for the British maker of the Raspberry Pi mini-computer.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) of Premier Farnell rose as high as 193.75 pence on Thursday, above Avnet's offer of 185 pence, hinting that investors expect a bidding contest for the company whose mini, low-cost computers help millions to get online and learn coding.

Since Britain voted to leave the European Union on June 23, overseas suitors have flocked to Britain in search of deals made much cheaper by the sharp decline in the pound against the dollar.

Japan's SoftBank Group Corp (Xetra: 891624 - news) agreed this month to buy chip designer ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM.L - news) , Britain's most valuable rechnology company, for $32 billion.

In what would be its largest ever deal, Phoenix-based Avnet offered a premium of 12.5 percent to Premier Farnell's Wednesday closing price. Its cash offer exceeds the 615 million pounds that Switzerland's Daetwyler agreed in June to pay.

"Bringing these two companies together allows us to capture market share earlier in the design process," Gerry Fay, president of Avnet's electronics marketing worldwide, said in a statement.

Premier Farnell said its board intended unanimously to recommend Avnet's higher offer and to drop its recommendation for Daetwyler's bid.

A spokeswoman for Daetwyler declined to comment.

Analysts at Peel Hunt said the deal, as well as giving Avnet access to the earliest stages of the design and manufacturing process, was made particularly attractive by the weaker pound.

To Wednesday's close, the pound had lost 11 percent against the dollar since Britain voted to leave the EU.

Avnet said it expected the deal to add to its earnings immediately upon its completion before the end of the year.

Premier Farnell, based in the northern English city of Leeds, has not been without its troubles.

Before Daetwyler made its offer on June 14, the company's shares had fallen about 30 percent since September, when Premier Farnell cut its dividend and sold a non-core unit amid falling profit and slower sales growth in its key UK and North America markets.

Daetwyler's shares were down 1.25 percent at 134.10 Swiss francs at 1252 GMT.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch was financial adviser to Avnet, while Lazard & Co Ltd advised Premier Farnell. ($1 = 0.7588 pounds) (Reporting by Sanjeeban Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)