Acer Inc (
Acer offered two-and-a-half of its own shares for each share in Acer Sertek, valuing the takeover at NT$13.5 billion (US$390 million).
The cost was based on Acer's closing share price of NT$18.6 today and Acer Sertek's NT$1.55 billion long-term debt.
Acer, which already owns about a third of the unit, will absorb Acer Sertek's 256.6 million outstanding shares.
"The consolidation is aimed at reducing redundancy in the group," said Acer spokesman Henry Wang (
Acer posted losses selling PCs in the first two quarters and expects to remain unprofitable in the third quarter as customers such as IBM Corp place fewer orders.
The takeover is part of Acer's bid to tap the growing demand for PCs in China. Acer Sertek plans to expand its distribution channel in China to 1,000 stores this year.
"Acer Sertek controls the distribution channels in China, so the consolidation will give Acer better and direct access to the fastest-growing mainland market," said Lin Hung-chung, who manages HSBC Asset Management Ltd's NT$5 billion Electronics Fund.
Lin invested in Acer Sertek, though he said he does not intend buying Acer shares.
Acer, once among the seven largest PC makers, stopped selling computers in the US under its brand name late last year to focus on manufacturing for other companies. Acer shares rose NT$0.70, or 3.9 percent, to NT$18.60.
The stock has risen 40 percent in the past 12 months, compared with a 4 percent drop in the key TWSE Index. Acer Sertek shares gained 17 percent during the same period. Foreign institutional investors today sold 9.3 million shares in Acer, more than any other Taiwanese stock, before the announcement.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure