Multinational chemical company Royal DSM NV is seeking a 51 percent stake in Taiwan’s AGI Corp (新力美) through a private placement and a public tender offer, expanding its footprint in the ultraviolet (UV) paint and ink system markets.
With the acquisition of a controlling stake in the Neihu (內湖), Taipei City-based AGI, which produces UV curable resins and other products, DSM aims to strengthen its UV technology platform, the Dutch company said in a statement.
“This expansion in UV paint and ink system markets will allow DSM Resins to realize its ambition to become the global leader in sustainable and innovative resins,” DSM Resins president Dimitri de Vreeze said in the statement.
UV paint and ink systems have a low eco-footprint and operational costs. AGI’s UV curing chemicals and other plastics additives are used in coatings for paper, wood, plastic and various graphic arts applications.
The share purchase will cost DSM about 48 million euros (US$63.4 million) and requires the approval of AGI shareholders and regulatory agencies, the statement said.
AGI said in a stock exchange filing yesterday that a wholly owned DSM subsidiary would buy 6.35 million new common shares of AGI at NT$40 per share through a private placement and buy another 29.29 million AGI shares on the open market with an offer of NT$57 per share.
Meanwhile, a group of shareholders owning about 16.4 percent of AGI shares have agreed to tender their shares to DSM, the Dutch company said.
“The tender offer and the private placement are mutually conditional upon each other,” AGI deputy general manager Huang Ke-ming (黃克明) said. “However, the deal could be terminated within six months if it fails to obtain shareholders’ and regulatory approvals or to meet certain conditions.”
The two companies expect the public tender offer to begin at the end of the first quarter next year following the private placement, and hope to close the deal in the second quarter.
The Taiwanese company, whose shares trade on the emerging stock market of the GRETAI Securities Market, reported NT$86 million (US$2.85 million) in profit in the first half of the year on revenues of NT$1.98 billion. It made NT$403 million in profit last year on revenues of NT$3.52 billion.
The stock closed at NT$50.80 yesterday before DSM’s share purchase announcement.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”