MOSCOW (MRC) -- Wacker Chemie says it is in advanced, “near to final” negotiations to sell its entire 30.8% stake in silicon wafer producer Siltronic to GlobalWafers Co. (Hsinchu, Taiwan), said Chemweek.
The sale would take place in the context of an offer by GlobalWafers to acquire all of Siltronic at a price of EUR125/share, valuing the company a tEUR3.75 billion (USD4.5 billion).
The remaining 69.2% of Siltronic is publicly traded. Wacker says its management board considers the offer price to be “attractive and appropriate.” A binding agreement between the two companies, under which Wacker will tender its approximately 9.24 million Siltronic shares at the offer price in a voluntary tender offer, is almost finalized, but remains subject to approval by Wacker’s supervisory board. The Wacker supervisory board is expected to take a decision on the proposed deal in the second week of December.
GlobalWafers says its offer price implies a premium of 48% to the volume weighted average price of the last 90 days and comes as a result of lengthy and involved negotiations, as well as price improvements, over a number of months between GlobalWafers and Siltronic. The offer price is 10% above Siltronic’s closing price on 27 November.
GlobalWafers is a leading manufacturer of silicon wafers and also makes solar wafers and crystal rods. The company had 2019 sales of 58.1 billion new Taiwan dollars (USD2.0 billion). Siltronic had 2019 sales of almost EUR1.3 billion. Analysts say the deal would create the largest manufacturer of silicon wafers by revenue.
"A combination of GlobalWafers and Siltronic would create a leading player in the industry with a comprehensive product portfolio that can offer technologically sophisticated products to all semiconductor customers globally, and brings together two companies with complementary skills which will enable the combined business to invest more in capacity expansion," says GlobalWafers.
Wacker owned 100% of Siltronic until 2015, when it launched an initial public offering for the business. Wacker retained a majority stake in Siltronic but has since reduced this to 30.8%.
As MRC reported earlier, Wacker Chemie operates a 90 ktpa EVA compounding plant at the Ulsan site, consisting of two lines. The second line with a capacity of 40 thousand tons of products per year was launched in 2013.
According to MRC's DataScope, September EVA imports to Russia fell by 30,32% year on year to 2,38 tonnes from 3,420 tonnes a year earlier, and overall imports of this grade of ethylene copolymer into the Russian Federation dropped in January-September 2020 by 9,85% year on year to 26,340 tonnes (29,220 tonnes a year earlier).
Wacker Chemie manufactures and markets EVA dispersions under the VINNAPAS brand name. VINNAPAS polymer dispersions are used in a wide range of industries: for the production of complex thermal insulation systems, building and tile adhesives, plaster, building mixtures and mortars, cement sealing slurries and nonwovens.
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