Samsung makes hostile bid for SanDisk
Published: 17 Sep 2008 09:10 BST
Korean electronics giant Samsung has made a $5.85bn (£3.27bn) hostile bid to acquire US-based computer-chip maker SanDisk.
In a letter to SanDisk's board, Samsung wrote it was "deeply disappointed" that the pair had been unable to come to an agreement about a merger after four months of meetings in Seoul and San Francisco. SanDisk immediately rejected the offer, saying it didn't value the company's operations fairly and was an "opportunistic attempt" to take advantage of SanDisk's current share price.
SanDisk added that the offer could just be a "calculated negotiating ploy" or an attempt to gain the upper hand in ongoing licensing agreements between the pair.
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Other would-be acquirers may now take an interest in SanDisk. Speculation in the US has centred on Toshiba, which operates a manufacturing plant with SanDisk.
The executive in charge of Toshiba's semiconductor business said the company may make a move in order to prevent a rival from controlling SanDisk. "We need to take preventive steps, if [SanDisk] looks like it'll be acquired," corporate senior vice president Shozo Saito told reporters at the Industry Strategy & Technology Forum in Yokohama, Japan.
While Saito said that Toshiba "was interested", he added there were no talks with SanDisk about a possible acquisition.
CNET News.com's Charles Cooper contributed to this article.
Credit: Samsung in US$5.85bn SanDisk offer from CNET News
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