《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 SPIL boss spends NT$1bn in attempt to thwart ASE

/ Staff writer

Siliconware Precision Industries Co （SPIL, 矽品精密） chairman Bough Lin （林文伯） yesterday said he spent NT$1 billion （US$30.2 million） to increase its holding of SPIL in the escalating battle over control with SPIL’s new major shareholder, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc （ASE, 日月光半導體）.

The share purchase has boosted the holding of Lin, his family and SPIL’s management team to a combined 18 percent share, Lin told a media briefing.

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SPIL, headquartered in Taichung, was founded by Lin’s family in 1984.

ASE, the world’s biggest chip packager and tester, holds a 25 percent stake after completing a tender offer on Wednesday.

Lin has purchased 24 million SPIL shares on the open market since ASE on Aug. 24 announced a tender bid to take over SPIL, he said.

In response to ASE’s filing of an injunction to block SPIL from holding an extraordinary shareholder’s meeting on Oct. 15, Lin said the company still hopes the meeting can take place as scheduled.

The shareholder’s meeting is to discuss a proposal to increase SPIL’s capital shares from 3.6 billion to 5 billion shares, allowing it to issue 840 million new common shares for Hon Hai Precision Industry Co （鴻海精密） in a share swap.

To pass the proposals, 50 percent of shareholders need to be at the meeting and the proposals must gain a 66 percent approval from shareholders.

Hon Hai, a major assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, is to hold about 21 percent after the transaction is completed in December.

During the media briefing, Lin again urged SPIL shareholders to support the proposed swap with Hon Hai, saying that the strategic alliance would help SPIL rapidly expand its system-in-a-package （SiP） business.

Lin played down the dilutive effect of the new share offering.

The share offering would dilute about 12 percent of SPIL’s earnings per share, rather than 20 percent as some analysts calculated, he said.

To minimize the impact, SPIL is considering launching a series of share buyback programs, repurchasing 3 percent to 5 percent of shares each year to boost the company’s profitability, Lin said.

The repurchased shares would be canceled afterward, he said.

SPIL would use paid-in capital to finance the share repurchase programs, Lin said.

He said the company’s paid-in capital is expected to increase by NT$25 billion to NT$40 billion after obtaining 359 million Hon Hai shares from the swap, given Hon Hai’s up to 50 percent payout ratio over the past three years.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES