Finnish Perlos and Taiwanese Lite-On Technology to join forces

Lite-On paying for Perlos's Nokia connections and plastics expertise

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The Finnish company Perlos, one of the leading suppliers of mobile handset plastic moudings and components worldwide, announced on Monday that it has entered into a merger agreement with Taiwan-based Lite-On Technology, the world’s leading optoelectronics supplier.
      Under the terms of the deal, Lite-On Technology will make a cash tender offer of EUR 277 million to acquire all shares of Perlos Corporation.
      The price offered for each share is EUR 5.20 in cash. The offer is 40.5% above the closing OMX Nordic Exchange Friday price of EUR 3.70.
      According to Perlos’s statement, the company’s main owner G.W. Sohlberg, with its 29.14% holding in the company, has already accepted the offer. The transaction will bring the Sohlberg family more than EUR 80 million.
     
Other parties benefiting from the deal are the investment funds of OKO Bank, with EUR 8.5 million, and Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company, with EUR 7.8 million.
      "With our liquid assets of EUR 700 million, we plan to make even more acquisitions. The global mobile phone market is continuing to show strong growth, which is why we wanted to buy Perlos", commented Warren Chen, the representative of Lite-On in Helsinki on Monday. Chen is the CEO of Lite-On Core-Investment, which is administering Lite-On’s acquisitions worldwide.
      "The experience and financial resources of Lite-On Technology will enable further development of our value offering", says Matti Virtanen, the President and CEO of Perlos.
      According to Virtanen, Nokia’s views on the prospects for the future of the branch also had some bearing on the deal. From Nokia’s point of view, the acquisition is naturally good in the long run, as Lite-On is bound to compete with Foxconn, a Taiwanese-owned manufacturer of plastic components for mobile telephones. Foxconn bought the Finnish firm Eimo, a manufacturer of mobile telephone housings for Nokia, four years ago under rather similar circumstances.
     
The plan outlines no changes until the transaction has been confirmed, with no immediate impact on personnel. Moreover, the headquarters and management of the company are reportedly set to remain in Finland.
      However, Perlos has been pruning its operations in Finland for years.
     
Earlier this year, Perlos made a decision to shut down its last two factories in Northern Karelia, as the major part of the company’s production had already been transferred abroad, to plants in China, Hungary, and Brazil.
      More than 1,100 people were made redundant, and union representatives have noted that the Perlos staff have paid a high price to put the company into a position where it could be sold off successfully.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Perlos factories to shut down by September (6.3.2007)
  Perlos plans to shut down manufacturing in Finland - 1,200 jobs to go (16.1.2007)
  Workers call on Parliament for measures to save jobs in Finland (22.6.2005)
  Finnish personnel management, Taiwanese style (21.6.2005)

Links:
  Perlos
  Lite-On IT Corporation

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