Wacker Chemie Still Eyes Siltronic Sale Despite GlobalWafers Bid Collapse
01 February 2022 - 8:58PM
Dow Jones News
By Joshua Kirby
Wacker Chemie AG said Tuesday that it still intends to sell its
remaining stake in former subsidiary Siltronic AG after the expiry
of a takeover bid from Taiwan's GlobalWafers Co.
The company noted the planned takeover of chip maker Siltronic
by peer GlobalWafers had failed to materialize after the German
government didn't provide the necessary approvals before a Jan. 31
deadline. Siltronic said earlier Tuesday that the takeover period
had expired but the bid won't be closed.
At the end of 2020, GlobalWafers made an all-share bid via a
Germany-based subsidiary, GlobalWafers GmbH, for Siltronic at
EUR125 a share, later increased to EUR145 a share. At the latter
price, the bid valued Siltronic's equity at around 4.35 billion
euros ($4.89 billion.) As part of the agreement, German chemical
company Wacker Chemie had pledged to sell its own stake of around
31% in Siltronic to GlobalWafers in the event of a successful
merger. The chip maker was previously a subsidiary of Wacker before
listing separately in 2015, with the former parent retaining a
minority share.
"We remain convinced that the merger of GlobalWafers and
Siltronic would have been in the best interests not only of both
companies, but also of the German and European semiconductor
industries," said Christian Hartel, Wacker's chief executive and
president, expressing regret at the ministry's decision not to
approve the deal before the deadline.
Wacker still intends to sell its stake in Siltronic in the
medium term, Mr. Hartel said, though he stressed that there was no
rush to reach a deal.
"Siltronic has performed extremely well in recent years. It is
excellently placed in terms of technology and is highly profitable.
That makes our stake in Siltronic a financially accretive
investment for us," he said.
For its part, GlobalWafers said last week that if the deal were
to fail, it would plan to make alternative investments, mostly
outside Europe.
Write to Joshua Kirby at joshua.kirby@wsj.com;
@joshualeokirby
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 01, 2022 04:43 ET (09:43 GMT)
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