Lite-On Semiconductor Corp (敦南科技) on Friday said that it would sell all of its shares to US-based Diodes Inc at NT$42.5 per share, a 32.4 percent premium over the stock’s closing price of NT$32.1 on Thursday.
The companies plan to close the NT$13.3 billion (US$424 million) deal on April 1 next year if they obtain approval from shareholders and regulators.
Lite-On would then delist from the Taiwan Stock Exchange and become a part of Diodes, a leading global supplier of application-specific semiconductor products, the company said.
Founded in 1990 and listed on the nation’s main bourse in 2004, Lite-On is the world’s largest AC/DC GPP bridge supplier, as well as making components for switching power supplies and system power supplies.
The acquisition represents outstanding value and would help improve its competitiveness, the company said in a regulatory filing.
“Diodes’ excellent production technology and management excellence are expected to help improve [Lite-On’s] capacity utilization, enhance operational efficiency and reduce production cost,” Lite-On said.
Lite-On reported NT$6.44 billion in cumulative sales in the first seven months of this year, down 10.2 percent annually.
The acquisition would help Diodes reach its strategic goal of achieving US$2.5 billion in annual revenue and US$1 billion in annual gross profit by 2025, Diodes president and chief executive officer Lu Keh-shew (盧克修) said in a statement.
Based in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖), Lite-On has five production sites in Keelung and the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), as well as China’s Wuxi and Shanghai.
The company holds a 15.3 percent stake in the Plano, Texas-based Diodes.
The two companies are chaired by Raymond Soong (宋恭源), who also serves as chairman at Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技), Silitech Technology Corp (閎暉實業) and Co-Tech Development Corp (金居開發).
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