SunEdison Semiconductor (SEMI) to be acquired by GlobalWafers in $683M deal

    

GlobalWafers and SunEdison Semiconductor (SEMI) announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for the acquisition by GlobalWafers, through a wholly owned subsidiary, of all of the outstanding ordinary shares of SunEdison Semiconductor in a transaction valued at $683 million, including SunEdison Semiconductor outstanding net indebtedness.

  

The Taiwanese supplier to chipmakers says greater market share can be achieved in the silicon-wafer market.

The two companies currently have a combined 17 percent market share -- making it the world’s third largest silicon-wafer maker -- and 20 percent is within reach, Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer Doris Hsu said in an interview on Thursday. She expects the industry to grow 4 to 6 percent in 2017.

The deal for St. Peters, Missouri-based SunEdison Semiconductor will add clients and capacity, and give GlobalWafers greater access to South Korea and the European Union for silicon wafers used by chipmakers. The Taiwanese company already counts Samsung Electronics Co., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Toshiba Corp. among its customers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.