United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s second-largest maker of custom chips, said yesterday its board had approved a plan to buy back 300 million of the company’s own shares on the open market between today and April 2.
The size of share buyback accounts is equivalent to 2.31 percent of the Hsinchu-based chipmaker’s outstanding shares, UMC said in an exchange filing late yesterday.
UMC said the buyback proposal was likely to cost the company up to NT$50.56 billion (US$1.58 billion), as it plans to buy the shares at between NT$10.95 and NT$25.85 per share, the filing showed.
Shares of UMC closed at NT$15.60 per share yesterday before the announcement of the buyback plan. Over the past 12 months, the stock traded between NT$7.13 and NT$19.10 on the market, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
UMC said it would transfer the repurchased shares to its employees.
Between Aug. 28, 2008, and Feb. 16 last year, the company had also sought to prop up its distressed share price and safeguard shareholders’ interests by buying back 500 million of its shares on the open market.
UMC is scheduled to hold its quarterly conference for investors today to release fourth-quarter and last year’s financial results after the stock market closes.
UMC’s fourth-quarter revenue was up 49.6 percent to NT$27.75 billion from NT$18.54 billion a year earlier, company data showed. Analysts expect the company to post a net profit for the final quarter of last year, compared with a record loss of NT$23.51 billion during the same period a year ago.
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