HTC Rejects Informal Buyout Offer From Asus

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The battle for supremacy in the personal devices market is heating up in Taiwan. The chairman of Taiwanese company Asus mentioned in public remarks last week that that his firm would be interested in acquiring HTC, another Taiwanese firm. On Monday, however, HTC released a statement saying the firm had no interest in an acquisition by HTC.

Statement from Asus

According to a post from Asus on the website of the Taiwan stock exchange: “We strongly deny the news. We didn’t contact Asustek and will not consider the acquisition. As an international brand, HTC will continue to design world-class innovative smart devices through its pursuit of brilliance brand promise. HTC has not made any contact with Asus regarding this matter, and it will not consider a merger with Asus.”

More on possible Asus – HTC merger

Asus COB Johnny Shih commented late last week his firm would not rule out the possibility of acquiring the now-struggling smartphone maker. The CFO of Asus told the media Shih had “chatted about the topic internally.”

A follow-up statement from Asus noted that it has no immediate plans to invest in HTC.

HTC has seen its stock price collapse since the firm lowered its earnings outlook for the current quarter. The company’s shares were up by the 10% Taiwan market limit on Monday in response to the buyout speculation.

The former smartphone powerhouse has seen its market share drop off in the last year or two given stiff and unyielding competition from Apple and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

Asus, which has a strong reputation as a laptop manufacturer, has been enjoying some initial success in the smartphone market with its very low-priced ZenFone models.

A recent report from a major analyst suggests that Asus is likely to report 89% year over year smartphone sales growth in 2015, possibly the highest percentage increase among major firms.

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