Ex-market darling delisted from SGX following takeover by Abu Dhabi’s ATIC
By WINSTON CHAI 30 December 2009
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing kicked off the decade as Singapore’s most promising technology counter - but rounded off its listed history at the other end of the mainboard spectrum as a fallen star.
The chipmaker was officially delisted from the Singapore Exchange (SGX) yesterday after it was acquired by Abu Dhabi state fund Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC).
ATIC launched a $2.5 billion bid for Chartered in September, offering $2.68 a share. It also assumed $3.1 billion of the company’s convertible redeemable preference shares, valuing the deal at around $5.6 billion.
The deal had the support of Singapore investment company Temasek Holdings, which owned 62 per cent of the chipmaker.
Chartered made its trading debut in Singapore in late 1999 at an initial public offering (IPO) price of $3.34 per share and quickly became a darling stock of the market.
The backing of Temasek Holdings, coupled with the promised potential of the booming tech sector then, pushed its stock price up 50 per cent at the end of the first trading day.
At the close of its first month of trading, Chartered’s share price went past the $10 mark, with a market cap of $12.1 billion, making the company one of Singapore’s largest by market value.
It continued to climb the ranks, but the fervour proved short-lived as the dotcom crash a year later signalled the start of an era of decline.
The double whammy of a prolonged semiconductor glut and keen competition from stronger rivals TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing) and UMC (United Microelectronics Corporation) drowned Chartered in red ink for most of its 11-year history.
The embattled chipmaker made cash calls in September 2002 and March 2009 to raise money to finance its capital-intensive operations.
In 2002, Chartered made a rights issue to raise US$633 million. Earlier this year, it raised another US$300 million with another rights issue.
But its long struggle with profitability may finally be over - it will gain much-needed economies of scale as ATIC combines Chartered’s local operations with its existing semiconductor arm Globalfoundries.
Globalfoundries is the primary chip supplier for computer processor maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and it will add new customers including Microsoft and Broadcom as a result of the Chartered union.
The merger will create the world’s second-largest semiconductor firm with nine chip plants spread across Singapore, Germany and the US.
Chartered is the fourth local technology company to be delisted in the last two years.
In March 2008, IT services firm Frontline Technologies was privatised after Britain’s BT Group bought the company for $202 million.
Few months later, Data- craft Asia, another technology services provider, was taken private after its parent company completed the US$276 million takeover of its Singapore unit.
In October 2008, Singapore Computer Systems was delisted after it was bought out by Singapore Telecom’s IT services subsidiary NCS.
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End of an era for Chartered
Ex-market darling delisted from SGX following takeover by Abu Dhabi’s ATIC
By WINSTON CHAI
30 December 2009
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing kicked off the decade as Singapore’s most promising technology counter - but rounded off its listed history at the other end of the mainboard spectrum as a fallen star.
The chipmaker was officially delisted from the Singapore Exchange (SGX) yesterday after it was acquired by Abu Dhabi state fund Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC).
ATIC launched a $2.5 billion bid for Chartered in September, offering $2.68 a share. It also assumed $3.1 billion of the company’s convertible redeemable preference shares, valuing the deal at around $5.6 billion.
The deal had the support of Singapore investment company Temasek Holdings, which owned 62 per cent of the chipmaker.
Chartered made its trading debut in Singapore in late 1999 at an initial public offering (IPO) price of $3.34 per share and quickly became a darling stock of the market.
The backing of Temasek Holdings, coupled with the promised potential of the booming tech sector then, pushed its stock price up 50 per cent at the end of the first trading day.
At the close of its first month of trading, Chartered’s share price went past the $10 mark, with a market cap of $12.1 billion, making the company one of Singapore’s largest by market value.
It continued to climb the ranks, but the fervour proved short-lived as the dotcom crash a year later signalled the start of an era of decline.
The double whammy of a prolonged semiconductor glut and keen competition from stronger rivals TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing) and UMC (United Microelectronics Corporation) drowned Chartered in red ink for most of its 11-year history.
The embattled chipmaker made cash calls in September 2002 and March 2009 to raise money to finance its capital-intensive operations.
In 2002, Chartered made a rights issue to raise US$633 million. Earlier this year, it raised another US$300 million with another rights issue.
But its long struggle with profitability may finally be over - it will gain much-needed economies of scale as ATIC combines Chartered’s local operations with its existing semiconductor arm Globalfoundries.
Globalfoundries is the primary chip supplier for computer processor maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and it will add new customers including Microsoft and Broadcom as a result of the Chartered union.
The merger will create the world’s second-largest semiconductor firm with nine chip plants spread across Singapore, Germany and the US.
Chartered is the fourth local technology company to be delisted in the last two years.
In March 2008, IT services firm Frontline Technologies was privatised after Britain’s BT Group bought the company for $202 million.
Few months later, Data- craft Asia, another technology services provider, was taken private after its parent company completed the US$276 million takeover of its Singapore unit.
In October 2008, Singapore Computer Systems was delisted after it was bought out by Singapore Telecom’s IT services subsidiary NCS.
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