(Bloomberg) — The winning bidder for beleaguered Chinese chipmaker Tsinghua Unigroup Co. has finally completed a 60 billion yuan ($9.4 billion) takeover payment after missing an earlier deadline, people familiar with the matter said.
Unigroup’s administrators sent a notice to creditors late Friday that the JAC Capital-led consortium made full payment of the promised funds, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The investor group had initially missed a March 31 deadline to transfer the remaining 14.6 billion yuan of the agreed price tag for the chip business, Bloomberg News has reported.
The JAC consortium was picked as the winner of an auction for China’s debt-ridden semiconductor giant, whose rescue was viewed as a national security issue. Representatives for JAC and Unigroup couldn’t immediately be reached for comment outside regular Chinese business hours.
Beijing-based Unigroup is affiliated with the prestigious Tsinghua University, President Xi Jinping’s alma mater, and remains a linchpin in a race for technological supremacy. JAC, a state-backed semiconductor investment fund, defeated a rival consortium led by Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. JAC and affiliate Wise Road Capital had offered 60 billion yuan to pay off debts to creditors.
The reorganization plan was approved by a court in January, according to an exchange filing.
Apple Inc. is testing sample NAND flash memory chips made by Unigroup’s prized Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. unit and is in discussions about a tie-up, Bloomberg News reported Thursday.
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