Xamarin, the US-based mobile developer tools company, has been linked with a major investment or acquisition by Microsoft.

Sources told CRN that Microsoft and Xamarin are in the final stages of negotiations about an acquisition or major investment. Microsoft and Xamarin have not commented on the rumours.

Xamarin is a major backer of the Microsoft-developed C# programming language within the .NET framework.

Back in November 2013 the companies unveiled a global collaboration designed to help developers build native mobile apps for all major platforms using C# and Visual Studio.

The collaboration included technical cooperation to better integrate Xamarin technology with Microsoft developer tools and services.

Xamarin CEO Nat Friedman said the companies had stepped up their involvement in the months preceding the announcement.

Separately, Xamarin announced a partnership with Samsung this week which will allow developers to create native apps that support the South Korean vendor’s KNOX security technology.

“Our goal is to offer you the most options in creating great native applications and this partnership gives you more flexibility regarding app security,” Xamarin said in a blog post about the partnership.