A Step for Governance Reform?
Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. held a board meeting on Sept. 20 and resolved to sell its entire stake in Samsung C&T Corp.
The company decided to unload about 5 million shares in Samsung C&T worth 642.5 billion won (US$574.17 million) to expand its core businesses, secure funds for investment in new businesses and improve its balance sheet. The shares will be sold in the stock market through block trades to domestic and foreign investors.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics also resolved on the same day to make a 573.3 billion won (US$512.33 million) investment to build a new production line for automotive electronics multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) in its Tianjin plant in China.
As more and more cars are equipped with convenient driving functions, such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), and electrified, the demand of automotive electronics MLCC has been constantly increasing.
In addition, the demand in medium and long-term is expected to rise since autonomous vehicles and electric vehicles become more widely available.
Recently, Samsung Electro-Mechanics dramatically expanded automotive electronics MLCC production facilities in its Busan plant. The company also has been continuously increasing the number of specialists in development and manufacturing technology. Based on the investment in the new plant, Samsung Electro-Mechanics is planning to specialize its Busan and Tianjin plants as the production base for automotive electronics and information technology (IT) products and the Philippines for IT products and strengthen its market power by improving customer responsiveness and manufacturing efficiency.