ASE freed from breakup fee, able to pursue other buyouts

February 16, 2007 – Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc.’s chairman/CEO Jason Chang and a consortium led by the Carlyle Group that has offered to buy the packaging services firm, have agreed to drop the proposed exclusivity clause and breakup fee arrangements as a condition to the proposed deal — essentially allowing ASE to shop for other deals without penalty.

The changes were requested by Chang and the evaluation committee formed to mull over the ~$5.5 billion acquisition proposal by the Carlyle consortium.

Forbes speculated that the change in terms may be due to pressure from the Taiwan government, as a move to check ASE and Carlyle’s possible motivation to circumvent Taiwan restrictions on investments in China by listing on a foreign market (e.g Hong Kong) and sending investments into China from there.

Investors approve of the move, sending the company’s stock (via American depositary receipts) up nearly 4% on the news, the paper pointed out.

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