Acer Inc (宏碁) has sufficient cash to continue acquiring smaller firms worth “tens of millions” of New Taiwan dollars, as the company aims to expand its software and services sectors, company founder and former chairman Stan Shih (施振榮) said yesterday.
“Acer’s hardware is strong enough. What we need at the moment is to invite smaller companies that are good in software and services to work with Acer,” Shih told reporters on the sidelines of an event held by the Acer Foundation (宏碁基金會) in Taipei.
Shih’s remarks came after Acer chief executive officer Jason Chen (陳俊聖) announced on Wednesday in Berlin, Germany, that the company had acquired GPS cycling computer brand Xplova to expand the company’s reach in the sports industry.
This is Chen’s first merge and acquisition (M&A) project since he took the helm at Acer last year, a strategy he views crucial to help transform the 40-year-old PC maker.
Commenting on the next possible M&A targets, Shih said Acer will look for smaller companies in the fields of telecommunication, smart home, smart medical care, and the Internet of Vehicles.
“We can take smaller companies that cost tens of millions [of] New Taiwan dollars each,” Shih said.
Acer is also investing in a few start-ups in Boston and Silicon Valley, Shih said, without offering any investment details.
In a bid to expand Acer’s ecosystem, Shih said the basic principal for Acer to invest or to acquire other companies is those firms’ products or services must integrate with Acer’s cloud-computing platform — Build Your Own Cloud (BYOC).
“The point of carrying out M&A is to create values to both Acer and other companies, and the process of the acquisition must consider both side’s interests, which is different from hostile takeovers,” Shih said.
Acer’s net profit totaled NT$175.76 million (US$5.35 million), or NT$0.06 per share, in the first half of this year, plunging 63.82 percent from NT$485.81 million last year.
Chen told reporters the company has stopped “bleeding,” as the company’s operating income increased by nearly 51 percent to NT$1.19 billion in the first half of this year from NT$789.64 million during the same period last year.
Acer shares surged 4.78 percent to NT$13.15 in Taipei trading yesterday, outperforming the TAIEX, which gained 0.75 percent.
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