TOKYO, Jan. 9, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- H&Q Asia Pacific ("H&QAP") announced today it has acquired from SUMIDA CORPORATION, a listed company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, an 85.1% interest in Taiwan Sumida Electronics Inc. ("Taiwan Sumida"), the second-largest manufacturer of inverters used in notebook PCs.
Taiwan Sumida is a subsidiary of SUMIDA CORPORATION, one of Japan's leading manufacturers of electronic components, which will retain a 14.9% interest in the business. Taiwan Sumida has been designing and building leading-edge backlight inverters for over 10 years. Its core strength in transformer design enables the company to produce cost effective high efficiency inverters with excellent performance.
"Taiwan Sumida is a leading inverter manufacturer well positioned to take advantage of the rapidly growing LCD market," said Dr. Ta-lin Hsu, Chairman of H&Q Asia Pacific. "With a strong management team in place and with the continued support from SUMIDA CORPORATION, we see tremendous value and growth potential for this company."
H&Q Asia Pacific has been a leading investor in the TFT-LCD (Thin Film Transistor LCD) industry with successful investments in many of the industry leaders such as Amtran, Taiwan PCB Techvest ("TPT"), Wintek Corporation, and Sintronics Technology.
"Our decision to sell this controlling position in Taiwan Sumida to H&Q Asia Pacific reflects our desire to focus our business resources on our core business," said Mr. Shigeyuki Yawata, Representative Executive Officer and CEO of SUMIDA CORPORATION. "We are pleased to retain a substantial minority interest in the business going forward, which reflects our faith in its strengths as well as H&Q Asia Pacific's ability to grow the company. Going forward, SUMIDA CORPORATION aims to maintain a cooperative relationship with Taiwan Sumida in respect to R&D, manufacturing and sales, and continue to actively contribute to its growth."
Shigeaki Koga, Managing Director of H&Q Asia Pacific Japan, said, "The acquisition of Taiwan Sumida highlights our core investment strategy in Japan. H&Q Asia Pacific has been successful at identifying key opportunities to migrate talented management teams and technology from Japan to Greater China to take advantage of the lower costs of manufacturing and engineering, and implement cross-border sales strategies to drive growth."
About H&Q Asia Pacific
H&Q Asia Pacific is a premier private equity firm that invests throughout the Asia Pacific region. Founded in 1985 by Dr. Ta-lin Hsu as a joint venture with Hambrecht & Quist Group, H&QAP is today an independent private equity firm that has managed total assets of $2.2 billion through offices in the Silicon Valley, Hong Kong, Manila, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei, and Tokyo. H&QAP invests in a variety of sectors, including technology, manufacturing, branded consumer products, financial services, media and real estate. For additional information, please contact Jarlon Tsang, Chief Operating Officer, or visit www.hqap.com.