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Nexperia and Chinese owner fight for control of chipmaker in Dutch court

The court hearing could be decisive in the tug-of-war over control of the Dutch chipmaker, which sparked supply chain worries and China tensions

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A view of a Nexperia factory in China’s southern Guangdong province. The Dutch chipmaker has been locked in a legal battle with its Chinese parent company Wingtech Technology over control of the firm. Photo: Reuters
Xiaofei Xuin Paris

The battle for control of Dutch chipmaker Nexperia entered a new phase on Wednesday, as lawyers representing the firm and its Chinese parent Wingtech Technology traded blows during a seven-hour court hearing in the Netherlands.

The Enterprise Chamber – a special Dutch court handling corporate disputes – scheduled the hearing to determine whether it should order a formal investigation into alleged mismanagement at Nexperia or overturn its earlier ruling, with a verdict set to be issued by February 11.
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The court played a key role in suspending Wingtech’s control of Nexperia in October, when it issued a provisional ruling removing former CEO Zhang Xuezheng and transferring the voting rights on shares indirectly owned by Wingtech to an independent administrator.
That decision – which came soon after the Dutch government’s seizure of Nexperia – sparked a months-long tussle over the company’s fate that raised tensions with Beijing and threatened the supply chains of European carmakers.

During the hearing, the two sides sparred over the cause of the crisis, whether ex-CEO Zhang planned to erode Nexperia’s operations in Europe, and to what extent the supply chain disruptions that followed his removal should be seen as retaliation.

Lawyers representing Zhang and Wingtech argued the crisis stemmed from a rushed and unjustified intervention by the Dutch government and the Enterprise Chamber, while Nexperia’s legal team maintained the blame lay with Zhang’s mismanagement.

The Dutch side’s intervention was carried out based on “one-sided”, “misleading” and “false” information provided by Nexperia and had led to “disastrous” consequences for everyone involved, according to Wingtech’s legal team.

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Zhang’s lawyer stressed the way the intervention was carried out was “incomprehensible” to Zhang, as well as to many people within the company.

To illustrate his point, the lawyer cited an email sent by Jean-Pierre Kempeneers – Nexperia’s chief corporate affairs at the time and a veteran diplomat – to other company executives shortly after the Dutch interventions.

“What the f … is happening? Why? Why this way? Why this timing, coinciding with the BIS announcement?” he wrote, referring to the US Bureau of Industry and Security’s decision to expand its trade blacklists in late September.

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