The following press releases and news reports about Chinese companies were carried on February 24. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Unisplendour (Shenzhen: 000398) Scraps Western Digital (Nasdaq: WDC) Stake Buy (Chinese article)
TCL (Shenzhen: 000100), Unigroup to Form 10 Bln Yuan Strategic Acquisition Fund (English article)
Parkson (HKEx: 3368) to Close Chongqing’s Top Foreign Owned Department Store (Chinese article)
Hugo Boss (Frankfurt: BOSSn) Cuts Prices to Try to Revive Weak China Sales (English article)
Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) Acquires a Solar Cell Factory in the Netherlands (PRNewswire)
Bottom line: Fairchild’s decision to halt talks to be acquired by a Chinese group reflect mounting US national security concerns over cross-border M&A from China, which are likely to remain high until after this year’s presidential election.
Fairchild calls off talks with Chinese buyer
The Year of the Monkey is shaping up as a busy time for Washington officials reviewing China-US deals for national security concerns, with word that such concerns have killed a bid for Fairchild Semiconductor (NYSE: FCS) by a Chinese buyer. In this instance, it was Fairchild itself that decided to terminate the discussions with a group led by a unit of Chinese conglomerate China Resources, citing worries that such a deal would get vetoed by Washington.
Fairchild’s decision marks the latest case in a recent rise of US-China deals thrown into doubt over national security concerns, which has its roots in several factors. Several of the killed deals have come in the high-tech semiconductor chip sector, which is now in the process of global consolidation. Adding to the pressure are an increasingly aggressive group of cash-rich Chinese global buyers looking to expand beyond their traditional realms of natural resources and other low-end products. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Western Digital’s planned sale of 15 percent of itself to a Chinese buyer stands a 50-50 chance of getting vetoed by Washington on national security grounds, which could throw Western Digital’s planned purchase of SanDisk into doubt.
Western Digital’s China tie-up unraveling?
Many have been writing about China’s mega purchase last year of a big stake in computer hard drive giant Western Digital (Nasdaq: WDC) as if it’s a done deal, even though the $3.8 billion tie-up has yet to formally close. Even the buyer, Tsinghua Unisplendour, appeared to believe its purchase of 15 percent of Western Digital was unlikely to attract controversy, and was already using the US company as part of plans to build up China’s first global memory chip giant.
But the tie-up could fall victim to US national security concerns, following Western Digital’s new disclosure that it’s extending a timeline for the deal to close due to scrutiny from Washington. It’s probably too early to say this particular deal will collapse, even though Western Digital was apparently caught off guard by the scrutiny it’s now receiving from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), which reviews major cross-border high-tech deals for national security risks. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Washington and Beijing risk seriously hindering global trade and M&A in high-tech products in the name of national security, and should be more transparent when blocking deals and trade over such concerns.
National security vetoes look increasingly protectionist
The national security debate was in 2 major headlines last week, as word emerged that Washington might consider blocking proposed major acquisitions of US companies by Chinese construction equipment giant Zoomlion (HKEx: 1157; Shenzhen: 000157) and memory chip maker Tsinghua Unisplendour. While neither deal has been vetoed yet, the talk comes less than a year after several Washington politicians expressed reservations that ultimately killed another deal by a Chinese company to purchase leading US memory chip maker Micron (Nasdaq: MU).
With the US entering an election year, the likelihood of more deals being killed for similar reasons could grow due to opposition from politicians seeking to curry favor from voters. The growing noise from Washington comes against a backdrop of similar moves by Beijing, which last year rolled out a new national security law that foreign technology firms said was overly invasive and discriminates against them. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: Next year’s likely election of a Taiwan president from its current opposition party could delay many of Tsinghua Unigroup’s pending Taiwan acquisitions, crimping its plans to build a Chinese chip giant using Taiwanese technology.
Unigroup buys into 2 more Taiwan chip firms
Barely a week seems to pass without news of a major new acquisition by Tsinghua Unigroup, the Beijing-backed company that suddenly seems intent on building a global chip giant able to challenge worldwide leaders like Intel (NYSE: INTC), TSMC (Taipei: 2330) and Samsung (Seoul: 005930). The company is once again in the headlines as we head into year-end, this time in new deals to buy stakes in 2 Taiwanese chip firms for a combined $2.1 billion.
These latest deals follow another major purchase in Taiwan last month, making it increasingly clear that Unigroup hopes to combine its own financial resources and government connections with Taiwan’s high-tech expertise to realize its chip-making dreams. That plan looks good in principle, since China and Taiwan are highly complementary and also share many cultural elements. But the plan could run into big problems next year, as Taiwan’s political landscape looks set for major change that could see the current China-friendly regime replaced with a more conservative government. Read Full Post…
Bottom line: New remarks by Taiwan’s likely new president indicate a flurry of recent new cross-Strait chip tie-ups could be delayed, but most are likely to ultimately get approved in a new era of more pragmatic cross-Strait relations.
Taiwan presidential candidate cautious on new China chip tie-ups
In a move that I predicted earlier this week, Taiwan’s likely next president is pouring cold water on a nascent series of tie-ups between its fragmented high-tech chip industry and cash-rich partners from mainland China. The latest reports cite Tsai Ing-wen, presidential candidate of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), calling a recent series of planned Chinese investments a “huge threat” to the island’s large but also struggling semiconductor industry.
Even I was a bit surprised by the alarmist tone of Tsai’s comments, as I previously predicted that she was likely to call for a slowdown in the recent series of new deals but not an outright halt. (previous post) Beijing was also somewhat surprised, and a top official called on Taiwan not to politicize such commercial transactions. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 17. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) Plans Russia Entry in Tie-Up with Yandex – Reports (Chinese article)
Bottom line: Setbacks in 2 major global chip acquisitions by Chinese buyers show the Chinese are likely to be seen as foreigners by western manufacturers who would prefer to be bought by more familiar hometown rivals.
China chip buyers hit resistance in US, Taiwan
Two new developments in China’s global chip-buying spree are showing that political opposition isn’t the only obstacle Chinese buyers will encounter in their quest to acquire foreign technology. The Chinese could also face competition from rival suitors, with word that recent bids by the fast-growing Tsinghua Unigroup and newcomer China Resources have both hit such resistance.
In the first case, Unigroup’s recently announced plan to buy 25 percent of Taiwanese chip tester Siliconware Precision Industries (Taipei: 2325) has been followed by a new counter bid from Taiwan’s own Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (Taipei: 2311). The second case has US-based Fairchild Semiconductor (Nasdaq: FCS), which is in the process of merging with ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ON), rebuffing a higher rival bid from China Resources. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on December 15. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Fairchild Semiconductor (Nasdaq: FCS) Turns Down Higher, Unsolicited China Offer (English article)
Bottom line: China Resources’ unsolicited bid for Fairchild Semiconductor is certain to fail, but reflects Beijing’s desire to broaden its field of domestic companies making bids for global microchip companies.
China Resources enters chip-buying race
Beijing’s recent bid to build up its high-tech microchip sector is in the headlines again, with word that state-run conglomerate China Resources has made an 11th-hour bid for mid-sized US chip company Fairchild Semiconductor (Nasdaq FCS). This particular bid, which would value Fairchild at nearly $2.5 billion, was quite a surprise, since Fairchild had agreed just last month to be acquired by US rival ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ON).
There are 2 major elements to this chip story that has seen China become a sudden major bidder for global assets. The biggest picture is a story of consolidation in the global sector, which is long overdue and comes as maturing technology and has created an intensely competitive field of mid-sized players, many of those losing money. The second element is Beijing’s own recent decision to join the field of global buyers, as it tries to build up a homegrown chip giant to compete with big global players like Taiwan’s TSMC (Taipei: 2330) and South Korea’s Samsung (Seoul: 005930). Read Full Post…
Bottom line: TSMC’s plan for a $3 billion Nanjing chip plant marks the latest in a nascent but growing string of China-Taiwan tie-ups in the chip space, which could gain momentum under Beijing’s recent aggressive program to develop the industry.
TSMC to build $3 bln chip plant in Nanjing
After years of disappointment for failing to fulfill its potential, China high-tech chip sector has suddenly come to life over the last year with a flurry of deals that hint Beijing is taking the lead to promote the sector. The latest of those is one of the biggest and most significant yet in terms of technology, with word that Taiwan’s TSMC (Taipei: 2330; NYSE: TSM), the world’s leading contract chip maker, will build a $3 billion state-of-the-art 12-inch wafer plant in the city of Nanjing.
The move is particularly significant because TSMC is the clear global leader in high-tech microchip production, with a client list that includes most of the world’s major companies like Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). The deal also marks the latest in a nascent series of tie-ups between China and Taiwan in the chip-making space, a potent combination that could someday counter current powerhouses in South Korea and Japan. Read Full Post…
