After Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) announced to end its solar business, the company plans to sell 29.16 million common shares of Motech, or approximately 6% of the solar cell maker's paid-in-capital. It intends to entirely exit from its financial investment in Motech in the future.
Motech’s total PV cell capacity reaches 3GW following the acquisition of Topcell Solar International (TSi), becoming the largest cell maker in Taiwan. In 2009, TSMC purchased 20% of the shares issued by Motech through a private placement, at a price of NT$ 82.7 per share. However, Motech’s stock prices are kept low after going through market transformation and a series of trade wars. On November 30th, the closing price was at NT$ 43.4. Yet, TSMC is still the major shareholder of Motech as it now holds 12% of Motech shares.
EnergyTrend believes that TSMC’s close of solar business has to do with global trade wars. The 2014 US-China anti-dumping and countervailing duty rates will be reviewed by the end of 2015, leading to potential changes in the solar industry. Because the result remains unknown, TSMC may sell Motech shares for diversification purpose.