Fuji Electric Announces Acquisition of Singaporean Low-Voltage Switchboard Manufacturer

Tokyo, November 27, 2014 – Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. (TSE:6504) ("FE"), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and led by President, Michihiro Kitazawa, is pleased to announce that, based on a resolution of the Board of Directors meeting held today, it has concluded an agreement with Osaki Electric Co., Ltd. ("Osaki Electric") and its wholly owned subsidiary OSAKI United International Pte. Ltd. ("OUI"). This agreement is on the transfer of all shares of SMB Electric Pte. Ltd. ("SMBE") wholly owned by OUI.  We are scheduled to acquire all of the issued shares of SMBE as of December 29, 2014.
 
 1. Background and purpose
Under the management policies of the "expansion of energy-related business" and "globalization," we are working on strengthening overseas business with the focus on the industrial infrastructure and power electronics business. SMBE is a major manufacturer of low-voltage electrical switchgear and control gear solutions conducting business in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia. It has taken advantage of its strong relationships with design consulting and plant engineering firms to deliver many installations for datacenters, commercial facilities and industrial plant and factory equipment. We established Fuji Tusco Co., Ltd. in Thailand last October for the purpose of strengthening the power transformation business and, in December, launched Fuji Electric Manufacturing (Thailand) Co., Ltd., a new factory mainly engaged in the production of power electronics devices as the core base of manufacturing in Asia. In such ways, we are steadily moving ahead with strengthening the overseas business foundation. The present acquisition is expected to allow us to make use of SMBE's resources to further expand the business in Asia. The following describes the specific approaches.
 
■ Expansion of sales channels and strengthening of engineering capabilities
In addition to the distribution channels we have, SMBE's sales channels in the Asia-Pacific region and engineering capabilities will be utilized to increase the number of industrial plant and system projects that combine the company's low-voltage switchboards and our power electronics devices (such as uninterruptible power supplies systems (UPSs), inverters, motors, molded and other transformers and measuring instruments).
 
■ Strengthening of business by medium-voltage switchboard technology
Licensing of our technology will make it possible to start producing medium-voltage switchboards, which can be combined with our merchandise for the development of new markets such as marine electrical equipment and offshore plants in the offshore sector.
 
 
2. Overview of Company to be Acquired
(1) Company name:                    SMB Electric Pte. Ltd.
(2) Year of establishment:           1978
(3) Location:                                 Singapore
(4) Representative:                      Lee Wee Hian
(5) Amount of sales:                    SGD 110 million (approx. 9.8 billion yen at 89 JPY/SGD) (2013)
(6) Number of employees:           687 (as of June 2014)
(7) Description of business:         Manufacture, sales and related services of low-voltage electrical switchgear and control gear solutions
(8) Number of subsidiaries:         13 (5 in Singapore, 4 in Malaysia, 3 in Australia, 1 in Indonesia)
 

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Media Contact:
Doretta Caprarola
Marketing Manager
(201) 490-3933
dcaprarola@fecoa.fujielectric.com

 

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