Toppoly to acquire Philips display unit

Taiwan's Toppoly Optoelectronics Corp (統寶光電) yesterday said it would acquire a mobile display unit of Royal Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands through a share swap, creating the world's third-largest maker of small and medium-sized displays.

Toppoly, established in 1999, makes thin-film-crystal (TFT) liquid-crystal-display (LCD) screens used in a wide range of products, including mobile phones, pocket PCs, and displays in cars and notebook computers.

"The merger will give a boost to Toppoly in vying for the top place in the world's small and medium-sized display panels in the long run, after the two companies' customers, technologies and products are integrated," Toppoly chairman Ray Chen (陳瑞聰) said at a joint press conference in Taipei.

The new entity, renamed TPO, will boost monthly output to around 10 million units of displays sized under 10 inches, from Toppoly's current 3.8 million units, Chen said.

With a combined 11 percent market share, TPO will overtake Japan's Sanyo Epson Imaging Devices Corp as the world's No.3 supplier of the world's small and medium-sized displays, according to statistics provided by market researcher DisplaySearch.

Samsung SDI Co of South Korea occupies the top place in the world's small and medium display market, while Wintek Corp (勝華科技) of Taiwan takes the No.2 spot, according to DisplaySearch.

Toppoly will issue new shares worth NT$7.4 billion in exchange for Philips Mobile Display System's factories, research division and patents, the company said.

Philips, the world's No.4 supplier of displays in the small and medium-sized segment, will hold 17.5 percent of the new entity, with total capital of NT$42.3 billion, Chen said.

Kinpo Group (金仁寶集團), which also owns laptop-computer maker Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦) and handset maker Compal Communications Inc (華寶通訊), will own a majority 32 percent stake, Chen said.

Toppoly expects to wrap up the acquisition in the first half of next year at the latest, after the two companies obtain the approval of shareholders and securities regulators, Chen said.

Chen said Toppoly will start making a profit in the second half of next year after some six years of operation. Toppoly lost NT$2 billion in the first nine months of this year.

Philips' mobile display unit was profitable in the first half of this year with US$400 million in revenue, but swung to losses in the third quarter amid stiff competition, the company said. The unit, headquartered in Hong Kong, has factories in both Shanghai and Shenzhen, as well as Kobe, Japan. It also has a research and development center in Shanghai.

"The deal sounds okay. I think Toppoly is aiming for Philips' customer base, which will help the company deepen its presence in the small-and-medium screen panel market," said Wang Wanli (王萬里), an analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston's local branch.

Customer base is crucial for small-and-medium display makers as the screens are mostly custom-made and qualification procedures take at least six months, Wang said.