TOKYO: Japanese chemical maker Tokuyama will sell a Malaysian subsidiary to South Korea's OCI as part of its business rehabilitation efforts.
Tokuyama invested roughly 200 billion yen ($1.99 billion) in the unit to produce polysilicon. But its plant, construction of which began in 2011, has only caused problems for the company.
The facility has been marred by quality issues in the area of polysilicon for semiconductors and never made a shipment.
It failed in polysilicon for solar cells as well, unable to compete with Chinese rivals' cheap offerings.
By the year ended March 2016, Tokuyama had booked impairment charges amounting to its entire investment there in hopes of putting the business back on track, but decided to spin off the Malaysian operations instead.
Tokyo-based Tokuyama will transfer all shares of the subsidiary to OCI at the end of March and exit the business of making polysilicon for solar cells. The South Korean firm, the world's third-largest producer of such material, will pay $98 million for the operations.
Tokuyama will now focus on chip-related silicon, in which it holds 20% of the global market, as well as highly profitable cleaning solutions for electronic parts. - Nikkei Asian Review
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