SAMSUNG Electronics Co said yesterday it has withdrawn a US$26-a-share bid to acquire SanDisk Corp but suggested it was still interested in buying the United States flash memory card maker at a lower price.
In a letter dated and released yesterday, Samsung Vice Chairman and CEO Lee Yoon-woo informed SanDisk's board that "we are no longer interested in acquiring SanDisk at US$26 a share."
The letter said the offer was being withdrawn "after nearly six months of efforts to pursue a transaction with no meaningful progress."
A spokesman for California-based SanDisk said Samsung's announcement came despite SanDisk having outlined a path for further discussions of the offer.
Samsung never contacted SanDisk regarding the proposal after SanDisk's board wrote a letter to Samsung on September 15, the spokesman said. The letter stated Samsung's board determined the US$5.85-billion takeover bid was "inadequate."
Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung had said the offer was "full and fair." SanDisk had called it "opportunistic."
"We believe this raises questions about the seriousness of Samsung's offer and the real motivation behind it," the SanDisk spokesman said of Samsung's withdrawal. Samsung spokesman James Chung said that a deal could still be done.
"The point is at the moment SanDisk has been reluctant to begin serious discussion about the M&A issue," he said.
SanDisk is the world's largest supplier of flash storage card products. Samsung is the world's largest manufacturer of NAND flash memory chips used in digital devices.
Lee cited SanDisk's third-quarter earnings results and its relationship with Japan's Toshiba Corp as concerns.