Shares of passive components supplier Walsin Technology Corp (華新科技) moved sharply higher yesterday after its announcement the previous day of plans to acquire a stake in Japan-based Soshin Electric Co.
The demand for its shares was sparked by expectations that Walsin, a supplier of multi-layer ceramic capacitors, chip resistors and other passive components, is to expand its production with the stake in the Japanese company.
Its shares rose 3.86 percent to close at NT$202 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, outperforming the TAIEX, which closed up 1.19 percent at 13,885.67.
On Monday, Walsin Technology said it aims to buy a 35.64-to-50.1 percent stake in Soshin through a tender offer that started yesterday and runs through Jan. 4.
Through its subsidiary, Japan-based Kamaya Electric Co, Walsin Technology would pay ￥460 per share for the Soshin stake during that period, it said.
It would start with 5.56 million shares, or a 35.64 percent stake, and the maximum would be 7.82 million shares, or 50.1 percent, according to the deal.
The estimated cost of the acquisition is ￥2.56 billion to ￥3.6 billion (US$24.55 million to US$34.52 million), which would make Walsin Technology the Japanese firm’s largest stakeholder when the deal is completed on Jan. 12, it said.
The Soshin board at a meeting on Monday expressed support for the deal.
In addition, Soshin’s parent company and largest shareholder, NGK Insulators Ltd, has agreed to the sale of 35.64 percent of its subsidiary to Walsin Technology, but would retain a 5.04 percent stake.
Soshin, which was set up in 1938, has a paid-in capital of ￥3.806 billion and its shares are traded on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, according to Walsin Technology.
Soshin produces a wide range of products, such as capacitors, multilayered dielectric filters and low-temperature cofired ceramics, which are used in communications devices, automotive electronics, medical equipment, communications base stations, railways and satellites, Walsin Technology said.