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JIC’s $6B Tender for JSR Chip Linchpin Begins Tuesday

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State-backed Japan Investment Corp. will launch a tender offer for chipmaking materials linchpin JSR Corp. on Tuesday, a move that Tokyo officials deem crucial for the country’s domestic supply chain.

JSR said it no longer needed advance regulatory approval from Beijing for the ¥904 billion ($6 billion) deal, thanks to an amendment in China’s guidelines regarding its antitrust laws. The withdrawal of its application was accepted on Feb. 19, leading JIC to decide it could move forward on the tender offer, it said. JIC is slated to buy all outstanding shares of JSR for ¥4,350 per share.

The privatization of JSR would give Japan more control over the world’s top supplier of photoresists used to make the most advanced semiconductors, helping it shore up its domestic chip manufacturing foundation.

The deal is part of a broader countrywide push to reclaim some of its former chipmaking glory. Japan has already approved billions of dollars in subsidies to global chipmakers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Micron Technology Inc. as well as suppliers such as Sumco Corp. and Iwatani Corp.

Rising tensions between China and the US have made getting approval for transactions from regulators in Beijing and Washington increasingly difficult, especially those involving semiconductors. Last year, Intel Corp. abandoned its $5.4 billion acquisition of Tower Semiconductor Ltd. after failing to win China’s signoff in time.

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