Chinese Investors to Buy German Semiconductor Company Aixtron

A group of Chinese investors has offered €6 a share to buy Aixtron, valuing the German supplier of semiconductor equipment at about €670m, in the latest case of a mainland acquisition of a western industrial company.

Aixtron, which makes equipment used in LED lighting, said on Monday that it had agreed to a takeover by Grand Chip Investment, the German arm of Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund. The Chinese group is controlled by Zhendong Liu, a Chinese businessman who owns 51 per cent of the fund. Xiamen Bohao Investment owns the remaining 49 per cent.

Under the terms of the agreement, Aixtron shareholders will be offered €6 in cash for an ordinary share, nearly 24 per cent more than Aixtron’s closing share price of €4.86 a share on Friday. The deal represents a 51 per cent premium over Aixtron’s three-month weighted average share price. Shares in the German equipment maker rose by more than 16 per cent on Monday after news of the agreement.

Aixtron said its legal domicile and headquarters would remain in Herzogenrath, Germany. It added that chief executive Martin Goetzeler and Bernd Schulte, chief operating officer, would remain in their jobs at the company.

Grand Chip Investment is expected to appoint four representatives to the Aixtron’s six-member supervisory board once the deal is complete. The takeover is still subject to shareholder approval and certain regulatory conditions being met.

Kim Schindelhauer, Aixtron chairman, said on Monday that the board members “fully support this transaction as it provides immediate value to our shareholders while also enabling Aixtron to bring their new products to market”.

The disappointing first-quarter results came just four months after the equipment maker suffered its worst day in 16 years upon losing its largest customer. Last December, Aixtron said Chinese client Sanan Optoelectronics had cancelled its orders, forcing Aixtron to cut its full-year sales guidance and sending shares down as much as 43 per cent in a single day.

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