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CEC Panda Might Be Bought by CEC Not BOE
May 24, 2020 
With the ongoing squeeze on LCD panel prices, rumors have been rampant that Chinese panel maker CEC Panda is in play. BOE, which always seems prepared to increase its market share might be a buyer, using some of its assets, or working toward managing some of Panda’s fabs.  Given that Panda’s state-oriented ownership is extremely complex, every time even the slightest notification is made by any of the potentially interested parties, which also include panel makers Tianma and Visionox stimulate more rumors. On Monday, China Electronics, the state-owned holder of a vast network of semiconductor, hardware integrator, telecom, and CE companies, and the ‘CEC’ in CEC Panda,  purchased an additional 1% stake in Panda, bringing their holdings, through varies entities, to 29.18% of Panda’s total shares.  While it is not unusual for state-owned entities to buy and sell stakes in companies they have supported, given the rumors about CEC Panda, it could indicate that an outright purchase by another entity, such as BOE, is less likely than an agreement to share production technology and potentially join forces in the development of the overall Chinese display platform. CEC could just be supporting  its Panda stock investment, whose value has declined by ~50% over the last year,  but given the sense that China may have turned the corner, it could be that China Electronics wants to solidify its position. From: SCMR, LLC