Dutch electronics giant Royal Philips Electronics said Monday it had cut its stake in the world's biggest chip foundry, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), as part of plans to divest its holding in the group, an AFP report said.
The AFP report said Philips had reduced its stake to 12.8 % from 16.2 %, raising 1.3 billion euros ($1.71 billion), in line with its strategy to exit the semiconductor business.
'For Philips, selling our stake in TSMC is a logical consequence of our decision to exit the semiconductor business, to which end we made a first, significant step in 2006 when we sold a majority stake in our semiconductor division,' Philips CFO Pierre-Jean Sivignon was quoted by the AFP report as saying.
Philips sold the bulk of its semiconductor business to a consortium of US investment funds last year and said it would focus on more stable areas such as lighting and medical equipment, the report said.
The report said under the deal between the Dutch and Taiwanese companies, Philips is to sell a further stake in TSMC over the stock market for about $2.5 billion and will also make its shares available to TSMC for share buy-back schemes.
Philips is also to abandon all positions on the board of TSMC and its representative in the management of the company had resigned last Friday, a statement said.