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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》ASE offers to buy rest of SPIL shares
By Lauly Li / Staff reporter
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc （ASE, 日月光半導體） yesterday proposed acquiring the remaining 75 percent of rival Siliconware Precision Industries Co Ltd （SPIL, 矽品精密） for US$4 billion in cash, as a countermeasure to SPIL’s planned sale of stock to China’s Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd （清華紫光）.
ASE currently holds about a 25 percent stake in SPIL. ASE’s offer of NT$55 per SPIL share is the same as Tsinghua Unigroup’s offer.
ASE’s proposal came after SPIL — the world’s second-largest chip packager and tester — on Friday said it and its subsidiary ChipMOS Technologies Inc （南茂） had each agreed to sell a 25 percent stake to Tsinghua Unigroup for a combined NT$68.7 billion （US$2.08 billion）.
Tsinghua Unigroup would be the largest shareholder in SPIL if the deal goes through.
“SPIL’s board holds hostile feelings toward ASE since we acquired our stake in the company publicly via the local bourse... The seeming purpose behind SPIL’s proposed deal with Tsinghua is to counteract ASE’s investment,” ASE chief financial officer Joseph Tung （董宏思） told a news conference.
Given the management’s attitude, it is hard to cooperate with SPIL, so ASE’s financial department decided to come up with a plan to acquire the whole firm, Tung said.
“ASE thinks that SPIL’s offer deal with Tsinghua Unigroup would highly dilute shareholders’ interests,” Tung said. “In a bid to maintain stakeholders’ interests and ASE’s investment in SPIL, ASE had no choice but to propose acquiring 100 percent of the company.”
ASE wants to buy all of SPIL’s common shares at NT$55 per share, representing a premium of about 20.88 percent compared with SPIL’s closing price of NT$45.55 in Taipei trading yesterday, Tung said.
If the deal goes through, SPIL would be delisted from the stock market and become a wholly-owned subsidiary of ASE, Tung said.
SPIL would need to cease its planned share transaction with China’s Tsinghua Unigroup after ASE’s acquisition, Tung said, adding that the company delivered its acquisition proposal to SPIL yesterday evening, and hoped for a written reply from SPIL before Monday next week.
ASE is a profitable company with a healthy financial status and the firm plans to use its cash reserves and bank loans for the US$4 billion investment in SPIL.
When asked how ASE would react if SPIL does not accept its offer, Tung said: “We are optimistic that SPIL’s management will see our proposition favorably as our offer benefits SPIL’s shareholders, employees and management.”
ASE and SPIL could potentially offer product differentiation amid rising international competition, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu （吳田玉） said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
