‛The Netherlands’ is going to buy Lionix, but at what price?

Lionix, the Enschede-based manufacturer of photonic integrated circuits and MEMS, is in trouble. Its Korean owner, Magic Micro, brought in to invest in the company, has never put up a single penny. Even in 2022, when Lionix acutely needed cash because of issues with a Swiss supplier, Magic Micro didn’t step up. Development agency Oost NL provided an emergency loan and a Dutch court recently ordered that a consortium of Dutch minority shareholders has the right of first refusal to buy back the share of – now insolvent – Magic Micro.

To do so, the Dutch will negotiate not with Koreans, but with Americans. As a result of a rather suspicious deal, Lionix has fallen into the hands of US firm Monsoon Blockchain Storage. Apparently, the CEO of Magic Micro thought he was going into business with the eminent Rothschilds and signed for a much larger amount than he had in mind, according to US court documents. A US judge, however, upheld the contract and the Dutch court recently confirmed that Monsoon’s claim of the stake in Lionix is legal.