Hsinchu-based Prime View International Co (元太科技), supplier for Amazon.com’s Kindle electronic-book reader, is prepared to pay an additional 120 million shares for its planned acquisition of E Ink Corp since the value of the US company rose.
The value of the shares is equivalent to US$180 million, Prime View president Fu Yu-hsuan (傅幼軒) told a press briefing yesterday.
PHOTO: CHO YI-CHUN, TAIPEI TIMES
CORE COMPONENT
Prime View is a leading liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel maker for portable devices. It also produces electronic paper displays, which form the core component of electronic-book readers.
The company said in June that it planned to acquire the closely held E Ink, maker of electronic ink, for US$215 million.
“When we discussed the deal last year, E Ink was losing money, and since the company has turned profitable this year, the company’s value has increased,” chairman Scott Liu (劉思誠) told the same briefing.
SHARE DEAL
Prime View plans to give E Ink 30 million shares when its stock price hits NT$50, 30 million shares when the price rises to NT$60, 30 million at NT$70 and another 30 million when the stock reaches NT$80, Liu said.
Liu said the company also planned to issue convertible preferred shares to E Ink shareholders when the deal closes, and E Ink shareholders can convert the preferred shares to common shares once Prime View’s stock price hits the targets under the revised merger deal.
However, the company will cancel the preferred share plan if its stock price fails to reach the targets over the next three years, he added.
Prime View is scheduled to hold an ad hoc shareholder meeting on Nov. 18 to approve the revised merger deal, the company said in a stock exchange filing.
Shares of Prime View rose 1.51 percent to NT$50.5 on the GRETAI Securities Market before the press briefing. The stock has surged 245.89 percent so far this year, compared with a 94.17 percent rise on the over-the-counter index over the same period.
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