Wacker Chemie sold 7% of Siltronic shares for €188 million, strengthening finances while remaining the company’s largest shareholder.
Wacker Chemie AG has successfully reduced its stake in Siltronic AG, a leading supplier of silicon wafers for the semiconductor industry, by selling 2.1 million shares. This transaction, completed on May 26, 2026, generated gross proceeds of approximately €188 million for Wacker Chemie. The placement price for each Siltronic share was €89.35.
The sale, conducted through a private placement via an accelerated bookbuilding process, was made exclusively to qualified and international institutional investors. This divestment represents 7 percent of Siltronic's capital stock, consequently reducing Wacker Chemie's total shareholding in the company to approximately 24 percent. Despite this reduction, Wacker Chemie remains Siltronic's largest shareholder.
According to Wacker CEO Christian Hartel, the primary motivation behind this move is to strengthen Wacker Chemie's financial position and create additional scope for future growth investments. Hartel also expressed satisfaction with Siltronic AG's development and reaffirmed Wacker Chemie's continued support for Siltronic's strategic direction. The company has undertaken not to dispose of any further Siltronic shares for 90 days following the placement, subject to certain exemptions.
This latest transaction aligns with Wacker Chemie's long-term intention to gradually divest its stake in Siltronic, a strategy that has been articulated since becoming a minority shareholder in 2017. While Wacker Chemie previously attempted to sell its entire 30.8% stake in Siltronic to Taiwan's GlobalWafers Co., Ltd. in a deal valued at approximately €1.16 billion in late 2020, that acquisition ultimately failed to secure necessary regulatory approvals, particularly from German authorities, by its agreed closing date in early 2022. That earlier proposed merger would have created a significant industry leader in the silicon wafer market.
The current partial divestment by Wacker Chemie has a more direct economic impact on Wacker by bolstering its financial resources for internal investments. For Siltronic, while its ownership structure shifts, the company maintains its largest shareholder in Wacker Chemie, which has publicly stated its support for Siltronic's strategy. This event primarily reflects a financial restructuring move by Wacker Chemie rather than a major shift in the broader semiconductor or silicon wafer industry landscape, unlike the previously attempted full acquisition by GlobalWafers.
