No, it's not a late April fool's: BenQ and Lite-On have today announced that Lite-On will acquire BenQ's optical disc drive business including BenQ's ODM customer portfolio and BenQ's technology portfolio. This will make Lite-On the second largest ODD maker in the world with 27% of the market and Hitachi-LG, Lite-On(-BenQ) and Toshiba-Samsung will together now have about 80% of the total ODD market for half-height drives.
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'This
strategic alliance combined with our manufacturing advantages, will allow
Lite-On IT to further sharpen its competitiveness in the ODM market and
become the No. 2 ODD manufacturer worldwide," expressed Raymond Soong,
Chairman of Lite-On IT. 'In partnering with BenQ, Lite-On IT expects to
benefit from increased manufacturing efficiency, greater economies of
scale, and a larger market share."
'We believe our customers will benefit from this
powerful partnership," commented K.Y. Lee, Chairman of BenQ Corporation.
'BenQ will continue focusing on the marketing and sales of our storage
products and this strategic transaction will allow BenQ to better address
our ODD branded and 3C opportunities and customers' needs," added Mr.
Lee.
Terms and Conditions Lite-On
IT will acquire BenQ's storage-related assets, including BenQ's ODM
customer portfolio and the right to use BenQ's technology portfolio
consisting of storage-related patents and licenses. Lite-On IT will also
receive order commitments on BenQ-branded storage products. BenQ will
receive approximately NT$1.2 billion in cash and acquire a 13% stake in
Lite-On IT. With this transaction, BenQ will become Lite-On IT's
second largest shareholder and a long-term strategic partner.
Additionally, BenQ will acquire two seats on Lite-On IT's board of
directors. Both companies expect to close the transaction on or about 1
June 2006. |
Thanks to karangguni, Hemispasm and D4rk0n3 for submitting the news!
Source: BenQ
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