IQE plc: Update to the acquisition of minority interests in IQE Taiwan Corporation

IQE plc

Cardiff, UK

19 August 2021

Update to the acquisition of minority interests in IQE Taiwan Corporation

Result of the Court determination on the valuation of third-party shareholdings in IQE

IQE plc (AIM: IQE, "IQE", “Company” or the "Group"), the leading supplier of compound semiconductor wafer products and advanced material solutions to the global semiconductor industry, announces the final Court determination of the valuation of the acquisition of third-party shareholdings in IQE Taiwan Corporation (“IQE Taiwan”) as reported by the Company on 15 October 2020 (the “Acquisition”) to take IQE’s ownership from 90.18% to 100%.

The Acquisition involved a statutory share swap arrangement under Taiwan’s Business Mergers and Acquisitions Law. Selling shareholders representing circa 5% of the shares in IQE Taiwan, accepted IQE’s offer of IQE plc shares in consideration for their shares in IQE Taiwan. Shareholders representing circa 1% of the shares in IQE Taiwan, rejected the share swap but accepted a cash equivalent offer.

Shareholders representing circa 4% of the shares in IQE Taiwan, rejected the share swap and the monetary equivalent offer. The price payable to these shareholders has now been determined by the Taiwanese Court under the relevant legislation. The Court reached a final determination on 18 August 2021. The ruling will be affirmed after 10 days unless shareholders appeal.

As a result, IQE confirms the total consideration for the third-party shareholdings in IQE Taiwan is 2,606,689 ordinary shares of 1p in the capital of IQE plc (previously issued in FY20) plus cash payments totalling £3m GBP. £1.4m of this was settled in FY20 with £1.6m plus 5% annual rate of interest being payable within FY21.

Tim Pullen, Chief Financial Officer of IQE, said:

“I am pleased the Court process in relation to the settlement with minority shareholders has concluded. Our Taiwanese subsidiary is a core part of the IQE Group and the foundation for IQE’s business development and production in Asia; a key strategic growth market for IQE. This transaction ensures that the returns from our continued investment in Taiwan will be wholly attributable to IQE’s shareholders.”

Contacts:

IQE plc

+44 (0) 29 2083 9400

Drew Nelson

Tim Pullen

Amy Barlow

        

Peel Hunt LLP (Nomad and Joint Broker)

+44 (0) 20 7418 8900

Edward Knight

Nick Prowting

Paul Gillam

        

Citigroup Global Markets Limited (Joint Broker)

+44 (0) 20 7986 4000

Christopher Wren

Peter Catterall        

Headland Consultancy (Financial PR)

+ 44 (0) 20 38054822

Andy Rivett-Carnac: +44 (0) 7968 997 365

Chloe Francklin: +44 (0)78 3497 4624

ABOUT IQE

IQE is the leading global supplier of advanced compound semiconductor wafers and materials solutions that enable a diverse range of applications across:

• handset devices
• global telecoms infrastructure
• connected devices
• 3D sensing

As a scaled global epitaxy wafer manufacturer, IQE is uniquely positioned in this market which has high barriers to entry. IQE supplies the whole market and is agnostic to the winners and losers at chip and OEM level. By leveraging the Group’s intellectual property portfolio including know-how and patents, it produces epitaxy wafers of superior quality, yield and unit economics.

IQE is headquartered in Cardiff UK, with c. 650 employees across nine manufacturing locations in the UK, US, Taiwan and Singapore, and is listed on the AIM Stock Exchange in London.