Kyocera announced the acquisition of Optrex Corporation,
a specialized manufacturer of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and related
products.
As part of the deal, Kyocera has completed its share
transfer agreement with three investment funds operated by Japan Industrial
Partners to acquire 100 percent stake in Optrex Corporation.
The acquisition will enable Kyocera
to further strengthen and expand its LCD and touchscreen panel businesses.
Effective February 1, 2012, Optrex will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Kyocera.
Kyocera expects that the acquisition will allow the
company to further enhance the product lines of both its conventional
industrial equipment applications and newly acquired automotive applications,
and thus contribute to business expansion.
Kyocera’s Corporate Thin Film Components Group develops,
manufactures and markets small- and medium-sized LCDs for industrial
applications worldwide. The company has been successful in establishing a
business structure capable of responding to customer needs, which requires the
ability to meet custom orders and to manufacture a wide range of products even
in small volume.
Since 2010 Kyocera has been expanding its capacitive
touchscreen panel business and has garnered a good reputation for product
quality and features such as thinness, strength and waterproof functionality
for use in smartphones.
Demand for LCDs used in industrial equipment and
automotive applications is expected to steadily increase; and the expanding
market for capacitive touchscreen panels used in high value-added products such
as smartphones and tablet computers is expected to see continued high-growth in
the coming years.
Optrex has a high level of
technical ability in manufacturing LCDs for automotive applications and a
strong customer base both inside and outside of Japan.
Optrex possesses production technology for touchscreen
panels, thus by effectively combining both companies’ product technologies and
operating resources including customer bases, Kyocera also expects to further
enhance and expand its touchscreen panel business.
This acquisition will enable Kyocera to further expand
its LCD and touchscreen panel business and to meet a wider range of customer
needs.
By Telecomlead.com Team
editor@telecomlead.com
