Taiwan's Ralec making bid to take ASJ private

LOSS-MAKING ASJ Holdings, which entered the Singapore Exchange (SGX) watch-list in March, is now an acquisition target of a Taiwanese competitor.

Yesterday, Taiwan's Ralec Electronic Corp - which, like ASJ, makes chip resistors - announced its intention to make a voluntary conditional cash offer to take ASJ private.

At 6.5 cents a share, the offer price values ASJ at about $17.7 million. The price is 18.2 per cent higher than ASJ's last traded price of 5.5 cents yesterday. Shares of ASJ surged nearly 20 per cent, gaining 0.9 cent, yesterday.