Failed Siltronic takeover
GlobalWafers invests in new factories
2/6/2022 11:04 am
The Taiwanese GlobalWafers does not get a chance at the supplier Siltronic. The billions saved are now to be invested in the company’s own production facilities. Meanwhile, the reason for the failure of the deal is still open.
The failed buyer of the Munich chip supplier Siltronic wants to invest the money saved in new factories. The Taiwanese GlobalWafers announced that it would invest the equivalent of up to 3.1 billion euros by 2024, a large part of which will go into expanding wafer production capacities at existing and new locations. Asia, the USA, but also Europe could be considered. The new systems should be ramped up in the second half of 2023.
GlobalWafers boss Doris Hsu said that although they were disappointed with the failure of the 4.35 billion euro takeover of the Munich competitor Siltronic, they had planned two-pronged from the start. The German government had too little time to examine the decision of the Chinese antitrust authorities, which had only arrived a week before the deadline. That’s why the purchase failed. After a 14-month review under the Foreign Trade and Payments Act, the federal government let the deadline expire within which GlobalWafers would have needed all approvals for the transaction.
“Everyone is puzzled. The official statement we received is that there was not enough time,” Hsu said when asked by journalists whether other factors such as protectionism were involved in the decision. She did not want to comment on whether there were still talks with the federal government on the subject. Siltronic is the only one of the five largest manufacturers of silicon disks (wafers) for the production of semiconductors in Europe.
A new attempt to take over Siltronic should be off the table with the investment decisions. GlobalWafers expressly left open a second attempt on Tuesday. However, Siltronic boss Christoph von Plotho had made it clear that a new purchase offer would have to be higher than the 145 euros that the Taiwanese wanted to pay in view of the booming semiconductor market. Siltronic shares closed at EUR 110.10 on Friday. GlobalWafers still holds 13.7 percent of the Munich rival, which the company bought directly as part of the takeover bid.