BERLIN - Germany's economy ministry said it could not complete its review of a planned sale of chip supplier Siltronic to Taiwanese rival GlobalWafers before a deadline for the approval set by the prospective buyer expired on Monday, scuppering the 4.35 billion euro ($4.89 billion) transaction.
"It was not possible to complete all the necessary review steps as part of the investment review - this applies in particular to the review of the antitrust approval by the Chinese authorities, which was only granted last week," a spokesperson for the ministry said.
On Jan. 21, China's market regulator said it would give conditional approval for the acquisition.
The German ministry said if GlobalWafers makes a new acquisition attempt, an investment review would be carried out again.
GlobalWafers secured a majority stake in Siltronic last year and initially hoped to have the transaction, which aimed to create the world's second-largest maker of 300-millimetre wafers, wrapped up in late 2021.
GlobalWafers Chief Executive Doris Hsu told newspaper Handelsblatt last week that the company would probably invest in America if the deal fails.
($1 = 0.8896 euros)
(Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Ludwig Burger and Rosalba O'Brien)