Taiwan VIA Tech buys S3 stake for $146m
TAIPEI, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Taiwan's VIA Technologies Inc said on Friday it has agreed to increase its stake in U.S. firm S3 Inc (NasdaqNM:SIII - news) to 14.9 percent by purchasing 10.8 million shares for US$145.8 million, or US$13.5 per share.
This followed VIA Tech's October move to buy 1.35 million shares, or 2.5 percent of S3, for US$14.07 million.
''S3 is a key partner to us in pursuing our business objectives,'' the statement quoted Chen Wen-Chi, president and chief executive officer of VIA Tech, as saying.
''In addition to the mutual opportunities for the PC market, we see substantial value in S3's communication and financial assets.''
The transaction is subject to obtaining all required government approvals and to customary closing conditions, it said.
S3 is a Santa Clara, California-based developer of graphics accelerator chips, while VIA is one of Taiwan's leading chip suppliers.
In mid-September, VIA Tech said it had signed a final agreement to buy a stake in a subsidiary of U.S. firm Integrated Device Technology Inc (NasdaqNM:IDTI - news) for US$36 million.
The deal followed VIA's August move to buy the assets of U.S. chip maker National Semiconductor Corp's (NYSE:NSM - news) money-losing Cyrix PC processor business for US$167 million.
On Friday, VIA Tech share price rose the daily seven percent limit at T$302, a 1999 closing high.
(US$ = T$31.6)
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