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BenQ plans venture for Siemens unit

BenQ Corp (明基), the nation's biggest brandname cellphone maker, is reportedly planning to establish a new venture to control the unprofitable handset unit it acquired last month from Siemens AG, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday, citing a recent interview by company chairman Lee Kun-yao (李焜耀) with news media in China.

The new venture will launch its Asian headquarters in Taipei by the end of next month, the newspaper said, citing Lee.

BenQ will set up its global headquarters for the new company in Munich. Clemens Joos, who currently leads Siemens' mobile-phone unit, is expected to become president of the venture, with Irwin Chen (陳盛穩), a vice president at BenQ in charge of network communications, as his deputy, according to the company.

BenQ announced on June 7 that it would acquire Munich-based Siemens' handset unit. BenQ will also get 250 million euros (US$297.8 million) in cash from the German phone giant to develop patents and market the new brand, BenQ-Siemens, according to the companies.

Shares of the company dropped 0.8 percent to close at NT$31.1 yesterday on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

BenQ reported NT$10.15 billion (US$316 million) in sales last month, dropping 28 percent from the same month a year ago, amid a continuing decline in average selling prices and lower shipments of mobile phones, the company said in a filing to the stock exchange earlier this week.
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