United Test and Assembly Centre (UTAC)

[Musicwhiz]

Business Times - 16 Jun 2011

UTAC to seek SGX relisting in $500m IPO

(SINGAPORE) Microchip tester United Test Assembly Center (UTAC), which was taken over by buyout firms TPG and Affinity Equity Partners in 2007, is seeking to relist in Singapore in an IPO worth about $500 million, two sources said yesterday.

UTAC is seeking a listing on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) in the third quarter, and has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, UBS and United Overseas Bank as the joint book runners, said one of the sources close to the deal.

'It is still in the pre-marketing stages, nothing has been firmed up but it is targeting to list in the third quarter,' another source told Reuters.

UTAC was taken over by Global A&T Electronics Ltd, a vehicle owned by Affinity and TPG, in a US$1.4 billion leveraged buyout just around the time when the credit crisis began.

TPG and Affinity will not sell any of their stakes in UTAC, but their stakes will be diluted after the share offering, a source said. New shares will be offered in the IPO, other sources said.

UTAC plans to use the funds raised to retire debt and undertake potential acquisitions in the future. Banking sources have previously said that the debt is around US$1 billion.

The company, which tests semiconductor chips used in tablet PCs and smartphones, could benefit from booming demand for the consumer electronic devices made popular by Apple's iPhone and iPad.

Singapore-based UTAC employs over 13,000 people, and has operations in the city-state, China, Taiwan and Thailand.

Reuters

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Singapore Chip Firm Global A&T Files for Bankruptcy in NY

By Dawn McCarty , Tiffany Kary , and Denise Wee
December 18, 2017, 7:46 AM GMT+8 Updated on December 18, 2017, 5:58 PM GMT+8

Global A&T Electronics, a Singapore-based chip assembler that took on hefty debt a decade ago through a buyout by TPG Capital and Affinity Equity Partners, filed for bankruptcy as a 2013 debt exchange came back to haunt it.

The chip-assembler listed debt of more than $1 billion and assets of over $500 million in Chapter 11 papers filed Sunday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

Pursued by bondholders since 2014, when a GSO Capital Partners fund and others cried foul over the debt exchange, Global A&T finally seemed to put the problem behind it when it announced a settlement in mid-September. At the same time, other bondholders had come forward to say they weren’t giving up their own lawsuit over the debt exchange, brought in 2017.

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...ptcy-in-ny

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TPG-Backed Chip Tester UTAC Is Said to Explore $1 Billion Sale

By Joyce Koh
April 4, 2018, 4:59 PM GMT+8

UTAC Holdings Ltd., the Singapore-based chip testing firm backed by Affinity Equity Partners and TPG, is exploring options for a sale of its business after completing a bond restructuring, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The company met potential advisers in recent weeks to discuss options that could include an initial public offering or sale, according to the people. Its owners could seek a valuation of about $1 billion including debt from any exit, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Global A&T Electronics Ltd., which controlled most of UTAC’s operations, filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. in December with a plan to quickly turn itself around. It said the debt load taken on from its buyout a decade ago had prevented the company from growing its business. UTAC completed a capital restructuring in January, cutting its funded debt from about $1.1 billion to $665 million.

More details in https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...llion-sale