Lionix secures first win in battle to stay afloat

Lionix International last week won a legal battle against its South Korean majority shareholder, Magic Micro, enabling it to secure a 1.5-million-euro emergency cash injection. The funding provided by another shareholder, development agency Oost NL, will keep the Twente-based company afloat as it awaits a second court decision.

Specializing in one of three major ‘flavors’ in integrated photonics, ie silicon nitride, Lionix is considered a staple in the Dutch Photondelta ecosystem. The company has received investments from the National Growth Fund and public investment agency Invest-NL, but, as revealed by Het Financieele Dagblad (FD), it has been struggling financially. Without additional funding, Lionix risks going bankrupt.

After Magic Micro and Dutch minority shareholders that include Invest-NL, Forward.one, the University of Twente and Photondelta couldn’t agree on how to attract the much-needed funding, Lionix and Oost NL last week successfully petitioned the court to force Magic to accept the 1.5-million-euro loan in emergency funding. The court’s decision brings “continuity”, management told FD. The Twente-based firm wasn’t immediately available to speak to Bits&Chips.

To complicate matters further, Magic Micro’s shares are being claimed by an American company, Monsoon Blockchain Storage, which has asked another Dutch court to approve a bypass of the preferential offer process to sell the shares to existing shareholders. Monsoon says it has several interested parties lined up, and it doesn’t want the shares offered to the group of Dutch shareholders first. The US outfit claims that Lionix and the Dutch shareholders are creating an ‘artificial liquidity crisis’ so as to acquire the shares cheaply.

The court will rule on 2 August.