Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s biggest chip packager and tester, yesterday said it plans to acquire a 25 percent share of its main local rival, Siliconware Precision Industries Co Ltd (SPIL, 矽品精密), for up to NT$35 billion (US$1.06 billion) in an effort to fend off growing competition from China.
The hostile takeover bid came as a bombshell to SPIL’s board, as it was not approached for a deal and the companies have been in a long-term race for industry leadership.
ASE said it plans to buy the maximum 779 million SPIL shares, combining common shares and SPIL’s American depositary receipts, at NT$45 per share, in cash.
The offer represents about a 34 percent premium, compared with SPIL’s closing price of NT$33.5 in Taipei trading yesterday.
“The 34 percent premium is very attractive,” said a fund manger, who declined to be named.
Foreign investors hold about a 58 percent stake in SPIL, while SPIL chairman Bough Lin (林文伯) only owns 2.2 percent.
“ASE aims to cooperate with SPIL through this acquisition proposal,” ASE spokesman Joseph Tung (董宏思) said at a media briefing yesterday.
“We are willing to have discussions with SPIL’s management for more details,” he said.
ASE believes local chip packagers should seek cooperation opportunities to cope with intensifying competition globally and to fend off new entrants in China, Tung said.
Jiangsu Changjiang Electronics Technology Co (江蘇長電) has made a US$780 million offer to buy its Singapore rival, STATS ChipPAC Ltd, as China is stepping up its efforts to expand its presence in the world’s semiconductor industry. The merger is to create an entity with scale equal to SPIL.
STATS ChipPAC is the world’s No. 4 chip packager.
Tung said ASE is not going to intervene in the operations of SPIL, or seek a seat in the company’s boardroom before agreements are reached between the companies.
ASE plans to buy SPIL shares from Monday next week to Sept. 22. The acquisition is to be considered successful if ASE can acquire 155.82 million shares, or 5 percent of SPIL’s total outstanding shares, ASE said in a statement.
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV yesterday said that it has reached an agreement to acquire a subsidiary brewery of Taiwan’s Sanyo Whisbih Group (三洋維士比集團). Heineken is to assume majority ownership and management rights of the Long Chuan Zuan Co (龍泉鑽興業) brewery in Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔), the Dutch company said. It would become the first multinational brewing company to operate brewery in Taiwan once the acquisition is completed. The deal has been approved by the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Investment Commission, but details of the financial transaction cannot be disclosed at this time, as terms of the settlement have not been completed,
LOOK WHO OWES: China’s exposure to Taiwanese banks was the second-largest, with Luxembourg third, followed by Hong Kong and Japan, the central bank said The US remained the largest debtor country to Taiwan’s banking sector for a 27th consecutive quarter in the first quarter of this year, with its exposure rising 8.3 percent from a quarter earlier on the back of an increase in US bonds, the central bank said on Friday. Data compiled by the central bank showed that outstanding international claims by Taiwanese banks on a direct risk basis to the US stood at US$125.38 billion as of the end of March. Department of Financial Inspection deputy head Pan Ya-hui (潘雅慧) said that the US Federal Reserve’s launch of a rate hike cycle in
GREEN CITY: The company is set to invest US$8 billion to make electric vehicles and batteries for a new city that would rely entirely on renewable energy sources Indonesia said that Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is considering investing in the country’s new capital city, a move that would bolster the US$34 billion construction project. Hon Hai, which is known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), is looking at setting up an electric bus system and an Internet of Things network at Nusantara, as Indonesia’s new capital is to be called, Indonesian Minister of Investment Bahlil Lahadalia said in a statement yesterday. Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Saturday to discuss the company’s plan to invest US$8 billion to build a manufacturing plant
WHOLLY OWNED SUBSIDIARY: Costco Wholesale said it expected the purchase of the remaining 45 percent stake to add 1 to 1.5 percent to its earnings per share US-based Costco Wholesale Corp on Thursday said that it had purchased the remaining 45 percent stake in Costco President Taiwan Inc (台灣好市多) for US$1.05 billion, making the local company a fully-owned unit. “We estimate that the purchase would add about 1 to 1.5 percent to [our] earnings per share,” Costco said in a statement. Costco President Taiwan was established as a joint venture with Kaohsiung-based President Group (大統集團), which held a 45 percent stake. Since the first Costco store opened in Kaohsiung in 1997, 14 outlets have been set up in Taiwan, company data showed. PROFITABLE Three Costco stores in Taiwan — in Taipei’s Neihu
RSS