Industrial News

TOKYO, January 31, 2012—Canon Inc. today announced the establishment of a new Philippines-based manufacturing company for the production of laser printers as well as accessories and parts that will make possible the creation of a globally optimized production system. The new company, Canon Business Machines (Philippines), Inc., will be located in the province of Batangas, Philippines. Recently, the laser printer market has displayed steady growth, with competitively priced models playing a central role. The expected increase in future demand for competitively priced laser printers has created a pressing need for Canon to secure necessary production capacity while making it possible [...]

French oil and gas group Total has announced it will launch a friendly tender offer for a majority share in California-based solar company, SunPower. The two parties have also entered into a research and collaboration agreement. The deal is set to be one of the largest ever single investments by an oil company in renewable energy, as Total plans to buy up to 60 percent of SunPower’s A and B shares at a price of $23.25 each; a 46 percent premium to the A shares’ closing price on Wednesday, and an overall cost of $1.37 billion for the [...]

Strategic transaction greatly expands ON Semiconductor’s presence in Japan and is expected to further the company’s growth on a global basis ON Semiconductor Corporation (Nasdaq: ONNN) today announced the completion of the acquisition of SANYO Semiconductor Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of SANYO Electric, and other assets related to SANYO Electric’s semiconductor business, by ON Semiconductor. Under the terms of the purchase agreement, ON Semiconductor paid approximately ¥11.8 billion ($144 million) in cash to SANYO Electric and drew down approximately ¥31.7 billion ($378 million) under a loan agreement with SANYO Electric. “The combination with SANYO Semiconductor represents an important step [...]

PerkinElmer Inc. (NYSE:PKI) completed the offloading of its illumination and detection solutions business to a private equity firm for a half billion. The unit went to Excelitas Technologies Corp., an affiliate of New York-based private equity firm Veritas Capital Fund III LP, and netted the Waltham, Mass.-based diagnostics and equipment giant $482 million, according to the company. The 3,000-employee division, with 14 plants around the world, makes custom lighting and sensors for the OEM market in the health, environmental and security industries. PerkinElmer said it expects the business to generate about $300 million in revenues this year. When the [...]

Amid the prevailing gloom in Philippine industry, Stanford Microsystems Inc. is a glittering exception, the sort of enterprise, economists and Government officials say, that the country needs in greater numbers to overcome its economic troubles. Elsewhere in the Philippines, layoffs and plant closings are the order of the day. But in his office outside Manila, Cristino Concepcion Jr., the 40-year-old chairman of Stanford Microsystems, the atmosphere is far different. In the year ended last June, Mr. Concepcion's business doubled. This year, the outlook is for another doubling, lifting revenues to $67 million at current exchange rates and profits to $5.6 [...]