Kobe Steel Ltd. said Friday it has signed a contract for the sale of its stake in KMT Semiconductor Ltd., a joint venture with Micron Technology Inc. of the United States, to Micron Technology for $25 million.
The price is $100 million less than originally agreed on, the company said, adding that the sale will be concluded in early May, instead of late March as previously planned.
Due to the lower price and the postponement, Kobe Steel has revised downward its projected consolidated net profit for fiscal 2000, ending March 31, to 7 billion yen from the previously estimated 14 billion yen, it said.
Kobe Steel and Micron Technology set up KMT in 1990 in Nishiwaki, Hyogo Prefecture, with respective stakes of 75 percent and 25 percent. The partners reached a basic agreement on the KMT sale in October.
But Micron Technology later requested the lower price in view of the slowdown in the U.S. economy and the deteriorating market for semiconductors, Kobe Steel said.