Japanese Print Player to Acquire U.S. Maskmaker

摘要

If there was before, there will no longer be any question about Japan's domination of the photomask market for semiconductor manufacturing, Toppan Printing Co. Ltd. (Tokyo) recently announced its plans to acquire DuPont Photomasks Inc. (DPI, Round Rock, Texas), making it by far the market leader. The No. 4 company in the market has entered into an agreement in which it will acquire all outstanding shares of the No. 3 company. DPI shareholders will receive $27 in cash per share for the deal, making the equity value of the transaction ～$650M (～¥71B) on a diluted basis. DPI will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Toppan to be named Toppan Photomasks Inc., and will remain headquartered in Round Rock. Toppan's senior managing director, Akihiro Nagata, will become chairman of Toppan Photomasks. DPI's current chairman and CEO, Marshall Turner, will remain CEO.