Wise Road buys semiconductor assets from Taiwan's ASE

ASE Technology will sell its interest in GAPT Holding, which directly or indirectly holds 100% equity stakes in Hong Kong’s Global Advanced Packaging Test as well as mainland China-based ASE Weihai, Suzhou ASEN Semiconductors, ASE Advanced Semiconductor Shanghai, and ASE Kunshan.

Wise Road will pay $1.08 billion on completion – adjusted for outstanding cash and debt held by the target companies – and $380 million six months later. ASE Technology, which expects to recognize a tax effected gain of approximately $630 million from the transaction, said in a statement that the divestment would optimize its strategy and resource allocation in China.

ASE Technology provides turnkey semiconductor assembly and testing services solutions covering front-end engineering tests, wafer probing, IC packaging, board level integration, and electronic manufacturing services. It employs over 101,000 people across Greater China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, the US, Poland, France, the UK, Germany, Tunisia, and the Czech Republic.

The company posted NT$476.9 billion ($17.2 billion) in revenue in 2020, up from NT$413.2 billion the previous year. Over the same period, net profit rose from NT$18.3 billion to NT$28.7 billion.

Founded in 2016, Wise Road describes itself as an international Asian PE growth capital investor that often backs companies that have a China expansion angle. The firm’s LPs are strategic players and financial institutions from Greater China, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Earlier this year, it agreed to privatize Korea’s Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation at a valuation of $1.4 billion. In 2020, the firm teamed up with Asia-IO Capital to acquire a majority stake in a semiconductor packaging materials business from ASM Pacific Technology and bought most of UTAC Holdings, a Singapore-headquartered semiconductor assembly and test services provider.

Wise Road has previously collaborated with state-owned Jianguang Asset Management (JAC Capital) on several occasions, including a carve-out of the standard products unit of US-listed Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductors and the establishment of a China-focused joint venture with Qualcomm. Brighten Li is the founder of Wise Road and chairman of JAC’s investment committee.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Technology
• Industrials
• Buyouts
• China
• Taiwan (China)
• semiconductor
• Wise Road Capital