Unisplendour Takes Stake in Western Digital

Chinese-based Unisplendour Corporation Limited will buy a 15% stake in Western Digital Corporation, allowing it to nominate a director, the companies said Wednesday.

A Unisplendour unit will invest $3.775 billion in Western Digital, purchasing newly issued stock of the California-based Western Digital at a price of $92.50 per share—a sharp premium to the company's closing price of $68.87 on Tuesday.

Shares of Western Digital jumped 9.3% to $75.26 in premarket trading on Wednesday.

Under the agreement, Unisplendour will be able to nominate one representative to the Western Digital board of directors. The board representative right ends if Unisplendour's ownership falls below 10%.

Unisplendour has agreed to a five-year lockup on its shares, with a limited number of shares becoming available for transfer each year. The deal is pending regulatory approvals.

Western Digital said the investment will help facilitate growth as the global data-storage industry changes.

Founded in 1970, Western Digital is a data-storage maker, including hard disk drives and solid-state drives. It also offers mobile drives, home video recorders, home-network storage devices and portable, desktop and personal cloud storage.

Unisplendour makes and sells computer, communication and other electronic products. The company was founded in 1999 and is based in Beijing.

Write to Ezequiel Minaya at [e-mail]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 30, 2015 08:15 ET (12:15 GMT)

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