Asia Pacific Telecom Co (APT, 亞太電信) chairman Lu Fang-ming (呂芳銘) entered a sale and purchase agreement with Macquarie Holdings (Singapore) Pte to buy a stake in the nation’s No. 3 cable TV system operator in his own capacity, a statement released yesterday said.
“The proposed purchase of Taiwan Broadband Communications Co [TBC, 台灣寬頻] is Lu’s personal investment and has nothing to do with APT or Hon Hai Precision Industry Co [鴻海精密],” APT said in a statement.
However, the deal still prompted speculation that it could be Hon Hai’s latest step toward the expansion of its business scope to the cable TV industry and APT might benefit from the digital convergence of telecom and cable businesses.
Hon Hai holds about a 23 percent share of APT after expanding to the telecom sector by acquiring the company last year via its subsidiary Ambit Microsystems Corp (國碁電子).
APT shares rallied nearly 10 percent of the daily limit to NT$10.9 yesterday. TBC has 750,000 subscribers, behind Kbro Co (凱擘) and China Network Systems Co (CNS, 中嘉網路).
Lu has proposed a full buy out of Macquarie APTT Management Ptd Ltd — the trustee manager of Asia Pay Television Trust (APTT), which owns TBC — the APT statement said.
No financial details were disclosed yesterday.
Upon completion of the proposed transaction, Macquarie is likely to divest its entire interest in the units of APTT to a related entity of Lu, amounting to 43.10 million units, or about 3 percent of the unitholding of APTT.
Lu said he believes that “APTT is a high-quality business, and an excellent platform to leverage his sector experience and strategic partnerships in content creation, data processing and telecom services, which might have the potential to drive further growth for APTT unitholders,” a separate statement released by Macquarie said.
If and when the transaction is completed, Lu is likely to appoint a new chief executive officer and chief financial officer of the trustee-manager, the statement said. It is unlikely there would be changes made to the independent directors of the board of the trustee-manager or TBC’s senior management team.
The completion of the proposed transaction is subject to approval by relevant regulatory bodies and lenders.
SEMICONDUCTOR SERVICES: A company executive said that Taiwanese firms must think about how to participate in global supply chains and lift their competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it expects to launch its first multifunctional service center in Pingtung County in the middle of 2027, in a bid to foster a resilient high-tech facility construction ecosystem. TSMC broached the idea of creating a center two or three years ago when it started building new manufacturing capacity in the US and Japan, the company said. The center, dubbed an “ecosystem park,” would assist local manufacturing facility construction partners to upgrade their capabilities and secure more deals from other global chipmakers such as Intel Corp, Micron Technology Inc and Infineon Technologies AG, TSMC said. It
EXPORT GROWTH: The AI boom has shortened chip cycles to just one year, putting pressure on chipmakers to accelerate development and expand packaging capacity Developing a localized supply chain for advanced packaging equipment is critical for keeping pace with customers’ increasingly shrinking time-to-market cycles for new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said yesterday. Spurred on by the AI revolution, customers are accelerating product upgrades to nearly every year, compared with the two to three-year development cadence in the past, TSMC vice president of advanced packaging technology and service Jun He (何軍) said at a 3D IC Global Summit organized by SEMI in Taipei. These shortened cycles put heavy pressure on chipmakers, as the entire process — from chip design to mass
Germany is to establish its first-ever national pavilion at Semicon Taiwan, which starts tomorrow in Taipei, as the country looks to raise its profile and deepen semiconductor ties with Taiwan as global chip demand accelerates. Martin Mayer, a semiconductor investment expert at Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI), Germany’s international economic promotion agency, said before leaving for Taiwan that the nation is a crucial partner in developing Germany’s semiconductor ecosystem. Germany’s debut at the international semiconductor exhibition in Taipei aims to “show presence” and signal its commitment to semiconductors, while building trust with Taiwanese companies, government and industry associations, he said. “The best outcome
Semiconductor equipment billings in Taiwan are expected to double this year, as manufacturers in the industry are keen to expand production to meet strong global demand for artificial intelligence applications, according to SEMI, which represents companies in the electronics manufacturing and design supply chain. Speaking at a news conference before the opening of Semicon Taiwan trade show tomorrow, SEMI director of industry research and statistics Clark Tseng (曾瑞榆) said semiconductor equipment billings in Taiwan are expected to grow by an annual 100 percent this year, beating an earlier estimate of 70 percent growth. He said that Taiwan received a boost from a
RSS