Taiwan’s Nanya Technology to buy Micron Technology stake

Taiwan-based Nanya Technology plans to invest up to NT$31.5 billion (US$958 million) in Micron Technology to acquire the equity of the US firm.

The board of  directors of Nanya has approved the investment.

The investment would further enhance Nanya's ties with Micron, according to Nanya, which will make the investment to buy Micron's shares through private placement. This is expected to complete in the middle of 2016.

Nanya further expressed support for Micron Semiconductors Taiwan's proposed acquisition of Inotera memories as a solely-owned subsidiary of Micron Taiwan for NT$30 per share through a share-swap transaction. The company added it would sell its 24.2 per cent stake in Inotera to Micron for NT$47.6 billion.

Furthermore, Nanya and Micron had entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to retain option rights for the use of Micron's 1x and 1y DRAM technologies, both companies announced.

"Nanya and Micron have entered into a new era of strategic alliance relationships. By becoming one of its major share ownerships in Micron, and entering cooperation in future technology nodes, will create Win-Win situation for both Nanya and Micron," said Nanya president Pei Ing Lee.

Meanwhile, Memory chip vendor Micron Technology Inc said yesterday it signed an agreement for the acquisition of remaining interest in Inotera Memories Inc, its Taiwanese DRAM joint venture with Nanya Technology Corp, for about $4 billion.

Micron is a 33-per cent owner of Intotera.  The company would purchase the remaining 67 per cent of Inotera for about 92 cents per share. The deal has an enterprise value of roughly $3.2 billion, net of roughly $900 million in cash on Inotera's books.

''The acquisition enables Micron to simplify our operations and business model while securing a long-term path for Inotera and its employees,'' said Mark Durcan, Micron CEO, in a conference call to detail the transaction.