UMC sets new benchmark for Taiwan

The foundry manufacturer took the first steps yesterday (Thursday) towards monetizing a 4.3% stake in Taiwan's leading producer of large size TFT-LCD panels with one of the most aggressively priced equity-linked offerings to date. However, while the majority of market participants believe the deal has set the kind of tight benchmark which others can only hope to emulate, some argue that terms could have been pushed a lot further given the current trading levels of recent transactions.