The Investment Commission (IC) yesterday approved Micron Technology Inc’s planned acquisition of its Taiwanese DRAM manufacturing unit, Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技), in a deal worth NT$130 billion (US$3.98 billion).
Citing Micron’s funding resources for the investment, the commission said it approved Micron’s plan to wire NT$28.78 billion to its local unit, Micron Semiconductor Taiwan Co (台灣美光), which would then apply for a NT$80 billion loan from banks to fund its acquisition of Inotera.
At the same time, the commission approved a request by Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) — which owns a 24 percent stake in Inotera — to invest NT$31.45 billion in Micron in a bid to boost its cooperation with the US firm.
The commission yesterday also gave a green light to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co’s (鴻海精密) ¥388.8 billion (US$3.5 billion) investment in Japan’s Sharp Corp to expand its panel business.
After an evaluation of Hon Hai’s proposal, the commission said it deemed that ¥388.8 billion was a “reasonable” offer, Executive Secretary Emile Chang (張銘斌) said at a news conference.
In 2012, Hon Hai had proposed the purchase of a stake in Sharp for ¥550 per common share, which the commission at the time thought was too high, Chang said.
In related news, the Indian government has rejected a plan by Hon Hai, known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康) outside Taiwan, to import refurbished smartphones, as it would violate India’s electronics waste rules.
Indian Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar said the government had recently turned down the proposal, which Foxconn made a few weeks ago.
“I have told them [Foxconn] that we cannot go against our electronics waste rules,” Javadekar was quoted as saying by the Economic Times yesterday.
The report said the decision was in line with the government’s position on denying Apple Inc a similar request.
Hon Hai declined to comment on the report.
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