Important approvals from Germany and China are still pending for the multi-billion dollar sale of the Munich semiconductor supplier Siltronic to the Taiwanese competitor Globalwafers.

"The takeover still depends on the official approvals under German foreign trade law and Chinese competition law, all other approvals are available," said Christian Hartel, CEO of Wacker Chemie, in an interview with FAZ

Ilka Kopplin

Business correspondent in Munich.

  • Follow I follow

The Munich-based chemical company listed Siltronic on the stock exchange in 2015 and currently still holds 30.8 percent of the manufacturer of silicon wafers on which chips are manufactured. The deadline for official approvals expires at the end of January 2022. If they were not available in time, the transaction, which Siltronic valued at EUR 4.35 billion, would have failed.

Wacker boss Hartel is still optimistic despite the approaching deadline.

“I am still confident that the takeover of Siltronic by Globalwafers will work out.

It's a good deal for everyone involved, ”he said.

Wacker would be entitled to around 1.2 billion euros from the sale of the stake, which is to be invested in organic growth as well as acquisitions.

However, if the sale does not go through, it would not change Wacker's strategy.

"In the medium term, we would neither keep nor increase our shares, but look for alternative models for a sale."

"We don't know how far the negotiations have progressed"

The Federal Cartel Office approved the transaction at the beginning of the year. In the meantime, the remaining permits have been received, including from America and Japan. Now only China and Germany are still outstanding. “We don't know how far the negotiations have progressed. Negotiations are under way, that is a positive signal. But of course a decision has to be made at some point. And I hope that it will fall as soon as possible, ”he said.

But in the past few weeks the tone between the Chinese and Taiwanese governments had become sharper again. Beijing sees Taiwan as part of the People's Republic and threatens to attack the island republic. That would also be dramatic from a purely economic point of view, since Taiwan is the global chip stronghold: The largest contract manufacturers TSMC and UMC are based there, as are globalwafers as well as other suppliers. So whether the approval for the takeover will stall due to geopolitical tensions? “German politics sees Taiwan as a sovereign partner. Then it cannot lump China and Taiwan together in this process. That would be inconsistent, ”says Hartel with clear words.

At the request of the FAZ, a Siltronic spokesman confirmed that only the approvals from the German Federal Ministry of Economics and the Chinese competition authority (SAMR) were missing and that these would have to be received by the end of January 2022.

The spokesman did not want to comment on how far the negotiations have progressed.

He also did not want to comment on speculations about possible geopolitical backgrounds for the pending permits.