German chipmaker Infineon Technologies AG on Monday said it would reduce its stake in its memory manufacturing spinout to below 50% by 2009. Infineon spun out Qimonda in an initial public offering  in August 2006, and it holds an 86% stake in the dynamic random access memory maker. The DRAM market is highly volatile, and shareholders had pressed Infineon to distance itself from its whipsaw price fluctuations. The spinout was the chipmaker's response, and the announcement that Infineon will reduce its stake is yet another move in that direction.

According to Infineon's statement, the company will continue its efforts to reduce its stake via share sales and "other capital market measures,"  and "any cash inflow from such sales is to be used for selective acquisitions to strengthen Infineon's business or to repurchase Infineon shares."

Infineon also said it fired its chief financial officer Rüdiger A. Günther, because of "irreconcilable differences."  Infineon's board has asked the company's previous CFO, Peter J. Fischl, to assume the positions of CFO and labor director at Infineon as an interim measure. Fischl had retired in May. —Stacey Higginbotham

See December 2006 from TheDeal.com
See Infineon's Aug. 6 press release

Tags: semiconductors, corporate restructuring