Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管), the nation’s third-biggest LCD panel maker, yesterday signed a contract with a local handset panel maker to sell a color-filter plant for NT$1.3 billion (US$40.94 million).
“The asset sales will not affect the supply of color filters, which are one of the key components used in making LCD panels. The deal will help revitalize assets,” said Wilbur Chien (簡永忠), chief director of Chunghwa Picture’s financial division.
The deal will help improve the company’s financial structure, he said.
The panel maker would book NT$264 million in asset gains after transferring the factory, equipment, land and employees to Giantplus Technology Co (凌巨科技) as early as the end of this quarter, he said.
Chunghwa Picture has lost NT$60.58 billion over the past six quarters since the global economic recession curbed electronics consumption from the third quarter of 2008. The company had NT$21.96 billion in cash and equivalents as of the end of last year.
Giantplus intends to transform the factory into a touch-panel manufacturing site as part of its efforts to expand touch-panel capacity, company spokesman Hsu We-cehe (許維哲) said yesterday.
In 2008 Giantplus bought a 3.5G LCD panel manufacturing plant from Chunghwa Picture for NT$6.5 billion and a 30 percent share of Giantplus.
Separately, Chunghwa Picture said demand for panels used in notebook computers and handheld devices still looked solid and that it did not see signs of weakness looming.
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