AU Optronics Corp, the world's No. 3 manufacturer of liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panels, yesterday said that it would acquire local rival Quanta Display Inc through a share-swap deal that would help it catch up to its bigger Korean competitors.
The acquisition should boost AU Optronics' market share to more than 18 percent in terms of capacity, placing it close on the heels of Samsung Electronics Co and LG.Philips LCD Co, which both control around 19 percent of the market, according to market researcher DisplaySearch.
"The merger will enhance our customer service, the return [on equity] for our shareholders, as well as our competitiveness," AU Optronics chairman Lee Kun-yao (李焜耀) said in a joint press conference.
The deal is set to be the second consolidation handled by Lee after the combination of Acer Display Technology Inc and Unipac Optoelectronics Corp in 2001 to create AU Optronics, the nation's largest manufacturer of LCD panels.
"We believe this merger will create better synergy than the previous one," Lee said.
Each AU Optronics share will be exchanged for 3.5 Quanta Display shares, according to a joint statement. The companies didn't immediately provide an estimated value for the deal.
Quanta Computer Inc, which owns a 26 percent stake in Quanta Display, would hold about 6 percent in AU Optronics after the transaction, making it the second-largest shareholder in the flat-panel maker after mobile phone vendor BenQ Corp, which will hold 9 percent.
"Mergers offer a faster way of achieving our longtime goal of an economy of scale, which is very important [in making profits]," said Barry Lam (
The deal is scheduled to be closed on Oct. 1 if the companies' shareholders lend their consent.
"The deal will have a very positive impact on AU Optronics. The company will strengthen its competitive edge by sourcing key components at lower costs and enriching its client portfolio," said Eric Lin (林宜正), an analyst with Yuanta Core Pacific Securities Corp. "It is a good deal for AU Optronics, since the premium is only around 11 percent."
AU Optronics president Chen Hsuen-pin (
"We don't have many shared customers," he said.
Also see story:
Sony may increase LCD panel orders
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)