Epistar Corp (晶元光電), the nation’s biggest LED chipmaker, yesterday said it would raise its holdings in Huga Optotech Inc (廣鎵光電) to 100 percent from the existing 48 percent via a share swap worth NT$3.47 billion (US$116 million).
The consolidation came as oversupply and sluggish demand brought most LED companies into the red in the first quarter and their outlook was dim amid persistent economic uncertainty in Europe.
The acquisition aimed to enhance the company’s efficiency and boost its competitiveness, Epistar said in a statement filed to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Epistar shareholders would obtain 4.85 Huga shares for each of Epistar common share, according to the statement. This offering means that Epistar will pay NT$12.68 per Huga share, a 1.44 percent premium, compared with Huga’s closing price of NT$12.5 yesterday.
Epistar will issue 56.45 million new common shares, totaling NT$3.47 billion, to Huga shareholders based on Epistar’s closing price of NT$61.5 yesterday.
The transaction is expected to be closed on Dec. 28.
Huga would become a fully-owned LED chip unit of Epistar and after that the company will be delisted from the local stock market.
Epistar said the deal would have a positive impact on the company’s profits and net value, because the company’s scale would expand and costs would be reduced.
The company will operate about 300 units of MOVCD machines after the transaction, making it the world’s No. 2 LED chipmaker.
Epistar lost NT$515 million in the first quarter, while Huga lost NT$57 million after booking NT$1.14 billion in losses for last year.
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a
RSS