IQE PLC Iqe Plc: Acquisition Of Minority Interests In Iqe Taiwan Corporation

 
TIDMIQE 
 
 
   IQE plc 
 
   Cardiff, UK 
 
   5 October 2020 
 
   Acquisition of minority interests in IQE Taiwan Corporation 
 
   IQE plc (AIM:  IQE, "IQE" or the "Group"), the leading manufacturer of 
advanced semiconductor wafer products for the global semiconductor 
industry, is pleased to announce the acquisition of third-party 
shareholdings in IQE Taiwan Corporation ("IQE Taiwan"), taking IQE's 
ownership from 90.18% to 100% (the "Acquisition"). 
 
   The Acquisition was effected using a statutory share swap arrangement 
under Taiwan's Business Mergers and Acquisitions Law (the "Share Swap"). 
Selling shareholders who accepted the Share Swap will be issued with 
shares in IQE on the basis of the average closing price of IQE's 
ordinary shares of 1p ("Ordinary Shares") on AIM in the 30-day period 
prior to today's Acquisition effective date. Selling shareholders who 
rejected the Share Swap will have their shares in IQE Taiwan purchased 
for cash. 
 
   Selling shareholders representing 5.04% of the shares in IQE Taiwan, and 
51% of the third-party shareholdings, accepted the Share Swap and the 
aggregate consideration payable to those shareholders is GBP1,437,646 
which will be settled through the issue of 2,606,689 Ordinary Shares at 
an issue price of 55.15p per Ordinary Share (the "Consideration 
Shares"). Selling shareholders representing 4.78% of the shares in IQE 
Taiwan, and 49% of the third-party shareholdings, rejected the Share 
Swap and will have their shares in IQE Taiwan purchased for cash. IQE 
has agreed a cash price with a number of those shareholders but is 
waiting for the Taiwan Court to determine the price payable to the 
others, as part of the normal process to be followed under Taiwan's 
Business Mergers and Acquisitions Law. IQE will therefore update the 
market once the total consideration has been determined. 
 
   Application for admission 
 
   Application will be made for the Consideration Shares to be admitted to 
trading on AIM ("Admission") and it is expected that Admission will take 
place on or around 6 October 2020. 
 
   Following Admission, the Consideration Shares will rank pari passu with 
the existing Ordinary Shares, the total number of Ordinary Shares in 
issue will be 799,889,941 and the total number of voting rights will 
also be 799,889,941. This figure may be used by shareholders as the 
denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they 
are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest 
in, the share capital of the Group under the FCA's Disclosure and 
Transparency Rules. 
 
   Tim Pullen, Chief Financial Officer of IQE, said: 
 
   "IQE's Taiwan subsidiary is of strategic importance to the Group as a 
base for epitaxy production in the Asia region. Having invested in the 
expansion of the facility in 2019 and looking forward to further growth 
in the future, I'm delighted to be bringing the entity under wholly 
owned status." 
 
   Contacts: 
 
   IQE plc 
 
   [phone] 
 
   Drew Nelson 
 
   Tim Pullen 
 
   Amy Barlow 
 
 
 
   Peel Hunt LLP (Nomad and Joint Broker) 
 
   [phone] 
 
   Edward Knight 
 
   Nick Prowting 
 
   Christopher Golden 
 
 
 
   Citigroup Global Markets Limited (Joint Broker) 
 
   [phone] 
 
   Christopher Wren 
 
   Peter Catterall 
 
   Headland Consultancy (Financial PR) 
 
   + 44 (0) 20 38054822 
 
   Andy Rivett-Carnac: [phone] 
 
   Chloe Francklin: [phone] 
 
   ABOUT IQE 
 
   http://iqep.com 
 
   IQE is the leading global supplier of advanced compound semiconductor 
wafers and materials solutions that enable a diverse range of 
applications across: 
 
 
   -- handset devices 
 
 
   -- global telecoms infrastructure 
 
   -- connected devices 
 
   -- 3D sensing 
 
 
   As a scaled global epitaxy wafer manufacturer, IQE is uniquely 
positioned in this market which has high barriers to entry. IQE supplies 
the whole market and is agnostic to the winners and losers at chip and 
OEM level. By leveraging the Group's intellectual property portfolio 
including know-how and patents, it produces epitaxy wafers of superior 
quality, yield and unit economics. 
 
   IQE is headquartered in Cardiff UK, with c. 650 employees across nine 
manufacturing locations in the UK, US, Taiwan and Singapore, and is 
listed on the AIM Stock Exchange in London. 
 
 
 
 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 05, 2020 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)

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