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UMC Announces Share Buy-Back
Program and Employee Stock Options
Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. - March 23, 2004, - United Microelectronics
Corporation (TAIEX: 2303, NYSE: UMC), held a meeting of the
Board of Directors and Supervisors, at which the Board passed a
resolution to buy-back 360 million shares from the open market.
This is the seventh stock buy-back program announced by the company.
In addition, the Board passed a resolution to grant stock options
to its employees. The details for the share buy-back program and
employee stock options are as follows:
| A. The Seventh Share Buy-back
Program |
| 1. |
Purpose of the share buy back:
Transfer to employees |
| 2. |
Planned buyback period: Between
March 24, 2004 and May 23, 2004. |
| 3. |
Number of shares: 360,000,000
shares |
| 4. |
Target price range for buyback:
NT$19.6 to NT$47.5. If the price falls below the lowest range,
the company is still authorized to purchase the shares. |
| 5. |
The shares will be purchased
from the open market. |
| 6. |
The number of shares to be bought
back is 2.23% of the total outstanding shares of the company.
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| 7. |
The company currently holds
198,842,000 shares of its stock from the previous six stock
buyback programs. |
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| B. Employee Stock Options |
| 1. |
UMC has granted 33.33 million
stock options to its employees at the exercise price of NT $27.9,
which equals the TAIEX closing price of UMC common shares on
the grant date of March 23, 2004. |
| 2. |
The 2003 Options Plan is a follow-up
issue to make up the 150 million shares previously approved
by the relevant authorities on October 8, 2003. UMC granted
57.33 million stock options on November 26, 2003. |
| 3. |
The 2003 Stock Option Plan applies
to employees of UMC and its affiliate companies. The number
of options issued to an employee will be determined by a number
of factors, including seniority, rank, and job performance. |
| 4. |
Each option certificate is equivalent
to one UMC common share. |
| 5. |
The settlement upon the exercise
of share options will be made through the issue of new shares. |
| 6. |
The options expire on March 22, 2010, 6 years from the grant
date. The vesting schedule is as follows: option holders can
exercise up to 50% of the options after two years, up to 75%
after three years and up to 100% after 4 years. Proceeds received
by the Company from exercises are credited to Common Stock
and capital in excess of par value.
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About UMC
UMC (NYSE: UMC, TSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry
that manufactures advanced process ICs for applications spanning
every major sector of the semiconductor industry. UMC delivers cutting-edge
foundry technologies that enable sophisticated system-on-chip (SOC)
designs, including 90nm copper, 0.13um copper, embedded DRAM, and
mixed signal/RFCMOS. UMC is also a leader in 300mm manufacturing;
Fab 12A in Taiwan is currently in volume production for a variety
of customer products, while Singapore-based UMCi has just entered
volume production. UMC employs over 8,500 people worldwide and has
offices in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Europe, and the United States.
UMC can be found on the web at http://www.umc.com.
Contacts:
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