the Japanese semiconductor market, becoming the first non-Japanese wafer maker with manufacturing and research facilities in Japan. Change of ownership MEMC experienced heavy price-pressure from Japanese competition during the mid 1980s. Despite its success and increasing revenues, MEMC had to account for losses for a few years, leading to the decision of Monsanto, which was refocusing on chemicals, agriculture, and biotechnology products, to sell the electronic materials division. In 1989 the German company Hüls AG, the chemicals arm of the German conglomerate VEBA, acquired Monsanto Electronic Materials and combined it with Hüls' previous acquisition Dynamite Nobel Silicon (DNS) to form MEMC Electronic Materials. DNS already operated silicon wafer plants in Merano and Novara, Italy and integrated them within the new MEMC Electronic Materials. Hüls supported the new subsidiary with $50million, for research and development and for manufacturing expansion. In 1991 MEMC developed the first process using granular polysilicon, which provided cost and productivity advantages over "chunk" polysilicon. Four years later MEMC acquired Albemarle Corporation's granular polysilicon production facility in Pasadena, Texas, which had been producing granular polysilicon since 1987. MEMC's stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange with an initial public offering in 1995. The IPO raised over $400million, which went to finance an aggressive growth plan and repay some of the debt to its parent company, and Hüls/VEBA retained a majority interest in the company. The cyclical downturn in the semiconductor business in the late 1990s hit MEMC hard. In 1998 the company reported a loss of $316million on revenues of $759million. In June 2000 VEBA AG, still holding 72% of MEMC, was merged with VIAG to form the new E.ON AG. E.ON wanted to focus on its core business of electric utilities, and assigned Merrill Lynch to sell MEMC. Merrill was unable to find a buyer until MEMC announced that it was on the verge of illiquidity in the middle of 2001. Finally in October 2001 E.ON was able to agree on a deal with the private equity company Texas Pacific Group (TPG), which purchased E.ON's stake in MEMC for a symbolic dollar and offered MEMC $150million in credit lines. TPG restructured MEMC's debt, increased its stake in the company to 90%, and cut one third of its workforce. MEMC returned to profitability following the appointment of Nabeel Gareeb, who was CEO of MEMC from April 2002 to November 2008. MEMC's market share rose again and