Philips completes sale of TSMC shares

Lighting major Philips has said it has completed the sale of 800 million shares in the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) valued at about $1.5 billion. It will result in a non-taxable net gain of about $773 million in its fourth quarter results.

The sale was carried out as part of a TSMC share repurchase program, which was initiated by TSMC on 14 November and completed on Monday 31 December. Philips continues to hold about 1.3 billion TSMC shares, representing a 5 per cent stake.

Philips is the world's biggest lighting maker, a top-three hospital equipment maker and Europe's biggest consumer electronics producer.