Shares of passive components supplier Walsin Technology Corp (華新科技) moved sharply higher yesterday after its announcement the previous day of plans to acquire a stake in Japan-based Soshin Electric Co.
The demand for its shares was sparked by expectations that Walsin, a supplier of multi-layer ceramic capacitors, chip resistors and other passive components, is to expand its production with the stake in the Japanese company.
Its shares rose 3.86 percent to close at NT$202 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, outperforming the TAIEX, which closed up 1.19 percent at 13,885.67.
Photo: CNA
On Monday, Walsin Technology said it aims to buy a 35.64-to-50.1 percent stake in Soshin through a tender offer that started yesterday and runs through Jan. 4.
Through its subsidiary, Japan-based Kamaya Electric Co, Walsin Technology would pay ¥460 per share for the Soshin stake during that period, it said.
It would start with 5.56 million shares, or a 35.64 percent stake, and the maximum would be 7.82 million shares, or 50.1 percent, according to the deal.
The estimated cost of the acquisition is ¥2.56 billion to ¥3.6 billion (US$24.55 million to US$34.52 million), which would make Walsin Technology the Japanese firm’s largest stakeholder when the deal is completed on Jan. 12, it said.
The Soshin board at a meeting on Monday expressed support for the deal.
In addition, Soshin’s parent company and largest shareholder, NGK Insulators Ltd, has agreed to the sale of 35.64 percent of its subsidiary to Walsin Technology, but would retain a 5.04 percent stake.
Soshin, which was set up in 1938, has a paid-in capital of ¥3.806 billion and its shares are traded on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, according to Walsin Technology.
Soshin produces a wide range of products, such as capacitors, multilayered dielectric filters and low-temperature cofired ceramics, which are used in communications devices, automotive electronics, medical equipment, communications base stations, railways and satellites, Walsin Technology said.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before