Epistar Denies Acquisition and Merger Rumors

Shortly after Epistar held its board meeting on Monday, numerous reports from Taiwanese media claimed the company was about to be merged. MLS, Philips and even Lumileds were named by speculators as potential buyers, following the reports Epistar’s shares climbed up to NT $29.5 (US $0.88) per share, reported TechNews. However, Epistar Spokesman Rider Chang has denied all these claims.

“The recent board meeting mainly discussed company management and operations, and the Taiwanese LED chip maker currently has no plans of actively acquiring or merging with other companies”, said Chang.

Epistar's booth at a lighting show. (Photo courtesy of TechNews)

Chang was responding to earlier news released by United Daily News (UDN) and Commercial Times that speculated the company might be acquired by a foreign firm, due to its low P/E ratio of 0.56, according to a follow up UDN report.

Market rumors of Epistar potentially being acquired has been floating on the market for a while. Back in December 2015, rumors in Taiwan pointed towards the possibility of Epistar being absorbed by MLS, which a senior officer from MLS has vehemently refuted. The MLS senior officer told LEDinside at the time that it was focusing on acquiring Osram’s lighting business to complement the two companies supply chain. In an exclusive interview with LEDinside, MLS General Manager Lawrence Lin said the company was aiming to complete the acquisition of Osram's lighting business by second quarter of 2016.

LED company shares and other green technology related companies have seen their shares rise recently on the Taiwan bourse, due to new President Ying-wen Tsai’s energy policies. Tsai is Taiwan’s first female president from the pro-independent Democratic Progressing Party (DPP) to be elected, and will be inaugurated on May 20, 2016.

Epistar has adjusted its human resources, strategy and factory resources. Additionally, since clearing out its inventory and promoting new LED products, the company revenue still has room for improvement. As for future merger plans? Epistar did not directly comment on the issue. In a later statement the company wrote: “Regarding the media report, it is not issued by the company. The company according to a consistent policy does not comment on it.”

(Translator/Editor: Judy Lin, Chief Editor, LEDinside)

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