Chip equipment maker ASMPT ends takeover talks with potential suitor

HONG Kong-listed ASMPT, a global provider of technology and equipment used in the manufacture of chips, said on Monday (Nov 11) it has ended takeover talks with a potential suitor, without disclosing the company’s identity.

Last month, ASMPT said it had received a takeover bid, but did not provide any information about the potential buyer or financial details.

Global investment firm KKR was said to have been considering a buyout bid for ASMPT, according to a Bloomberg News report on Oct 2.

ASMPT’s shares rose more than 11 per cent to a three-month high on the day Bloomberg News first reported the news, closing about 3 per cent higher. However, they have since declined more than 20 per cent.

Two people with knowledge of the talks told Reuters in late October that KKR had been in early talks with ASMPT and was exploring options for the company’s China operations as part of a potential deal, as the US firm was not comfortable owning the chip equipment maker in China due to regulatory and geopolitical risks.

US investment in China has dwindled in recent years amid tightened regulatory scrutiny and China’s economic slowdown.

The “reverse CFIUS” regulations which scrutinise US outbound investments to “countries of concern” in specific sectors will become effective on Jan 2, 2025, in the latest of a series of laws and regulations that U.S President Joe Biden’s administration has passed this year to restrict US investments in China.

The options KKR explored included finding a buyer for the China operations, said the sources, who declined to be named as the discussions were confidential.

KKR declined to comment. ASMPT did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

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Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment maker ASM International, which owns around a 25 per cent stake in ASMPT, has been urged by activist investors to sell its holding.

Media reports had first emerged in March 2023 that Hong Kong-headquartered alternative investment firm PAG was among the companies that had expressed interest in taking ASMPT private.

ASMPT’s market capitalisation as of Friday’s closing stands at HK$34.52 billion (S$5.9 billion), according to LSEG data. REUTERS