ASMPT Announces Strategic Joint Venture To Accelerate Its Materials Business | Charting A Bright Course For The Future

ASMPT Announces Strategic Joint Venture

To Accelerate Its Materials Business

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Charting A Bright Course For The Future

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Hong Kong, 29th July 2020 – ASM Pacific Technology Limited (“ASMPT” or the “Group”) (Stock code: 0522) has announced that it reached an agreement to form a Strategic Joint Venture (“SJV”) involving its Materials segment with key partners.

Mr. Robin Ng, CEO, ASMPT, said “We have been closely monitoring the market trends of the lead frame business for some years and have observed industry consolidation amongst its market participants. Our Materials segment is consistently among the top lead frame manufacturers globally. It continues to be a strong business, in tandem with the growth of the global semiconductor market. However, the lead frame business is extremely competitive and requires economies of scale in order to be sustainably successful. This Strategic Joint Venture enables our Materials segment to prepare its business for the future, benefitting its employees, its customers and the Group.”

Mr. Ng added that ASMPT had undertaken a rigorous process to identify suitable strategic partners to help accelerate the business growth of its Materials segment. The SJV partners, namely Wise Road Capital Ltd (“Wise Road”), Asia-IO Capital Management Limited (“Asia-IO”) and ASMPT, will collectively guide the management and development of the SJV.

The SJV is expected to begin operating by the end of the year. In the meantime, ASMPT’s Materials segment will continue its business, with the management team, operations, expansion plans, and product development unchanged. When the SJV begins operation, it will operate as an independent business under the auspices of the SJV partners, tapping the deep and complementary network and market experience of Wise Road and Asia IO to help extend and solidify its leadership position in the lead frame market. ASMPT will hold a minority equity interest in the SJV amounting to 44.44%, while Wise Road and Asia-IO will collectively hold a controlling interest of 55.56% through their designated investment vehicles. The financials of the SJV will be equity accounted by the Group once the SJV begins operating.

“The excellent track record, financial strength, and collective attributes of the partners in this Strategic Joint Venture form a very strong and capable foundation to fully actualize the immense potential inherent in the lead frame business. This will benefit all the stakeholders in ASMPT’s Materials segment, and give our customers the assurance that their needs and future requirements are well looked after,” concluded Mr. Ng.

“FITA is very pleased to form a strategic partnership with ASMPT and supports its Strategic Joint Venture with Wise Road Capital and Asia-IO. Wise Road Capital is one of the key investment platforms in FITA. Through our strong alliance member network of more than 100 leading high-tech players in China and the world, we are confident that FITA can provide a strong synergistic support to this Strategic Joint Venture and propel the growth of the business,” said Mr. Brighten Li, Chairman of the Financial and Information Technology Alliance (FITA).

“ASMPT is a world-class leader in the semiconductor value chain and we have full confidence in the technology, quality, and operations leadership of ASMPT’s Materials Segment. Wise Road Capital’s senior management team brings a good combination of finance expertise and industry expertise to support the success of the Strategic Joint Venture. We believe that the additional financial resources and industry network the new shareholders will bring in, plus a sharp focus on growing the Materials business together with ASMPT, will bring the success of the Strategic Joint Venture to the next level,” said Mr. Fai Yeung, Managing Partner of Wise Road Capital.

“This Strategic Joint Venture corroborates our strategy to back a high-quality player that is investing to become an even stronger player in the industry with a larger market share when the market upcycle resumes,” said Mr. Denis Tse, Managing Partner of Asia-IO.

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ASM Pacific Technology Limited

As a global technology and market leader, ASMPT (HKEX stock code: 0522), develops and provides leading-edge solutions in surface mount technology, equipment, and materials for the semiconductor assembly and packaging industries. Its surface mount technology solutions are deployed in a wide range of end-user markets including electronics, mobile communications, automotive, industrial, and LED. Our continuous investment in research and development helps to provide our customers with innovative and cost-efficient solutions and systems that enable them to achieve higher productivity, greater reliability, and enhanced quality.

Listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 1989, ASMPT is currently one of the constituent stocks on the Hang Seng Composite MidCap Index under the Hang Seng Composite Size Indexes, the Hang Seng Composite Information Technology Industry Index under Hang Seng Composite Industry Indexes and the Hang Seng Hong Kong 35 Index. To learn more about ASMPT, please visit our website at www.asmpacific.com.

About Wise Road Capital Limited

Wise Road Capital LTD is a global private equity fund manager focusing on investing into high-tech companies by identifying opportunities in enabling technologies for global urbanization and smart/green life through close cooperation with leading companies along several main themes, including smart city, intelligent manufacturing, renewable energies, etc. Wise Road Capital LTD is striving to build a healthy international eco-system around those key themes through its investments and its international management team with a combination of industry and investment background. The successful track record of Wise Road Capital LTD is built on carve-outs, joint-venture, and co-investments with world-class companies in the ICT sector. Between 2016 and 2019, it has participated in the carve-out of Nexperia from NXP, formed an AI/IoT chipset JV with Qualcomm and a MEMS Sensor JV with ams, and invested in smartphone ODM Huaqin. Wise Road Capital LTD is also a founding member and a core investment platform of the Financial and Information Technology Alliance (“FITA”). FITA is an industry alliance with more than 100 technology and financial companies globally as members to promote and support the development of an ecosystem for technology, alternative energy, healthcare, and financial industries.

About Asia-IO Capital Management Limited

Asia-IO Capital Management Limited, part of Seoul-based ACE Equity Partners, is a Hong Kong-based cross-border private equity firm focusing on Asia-related manufacturing technology buyouts. It has built a portfolio of eight companies to date, including businesses carved out from world-class technology companies like Maxnerva from Foxconn, the Nokia handset business from Microsoft, and the optical module business from TDK.

About Lead Frames

Lead frames are used in almost all semiconductor packages. A lead frame is essentially a thin layer of metal that connects the wiring from tiny electrical terminals on the semiconductor surface to the large-scale circuitry on electrical devices and circuit boards. Most kinds of integrated circuit packaging are made by placing the silicon chip on a lead frame, wire bonding the chip to the metal leads of that lead frame, and covering the chip with plastic. This simple and usually low-cost packaging is still the best solution for many applications. In lead frame design, there is very often demand for customised specifications and features, with different technologies for lead frame manufacture used.
(adapted from https://www.precisionmicro.com/the-economic-manufacture-of-lead-frames-a-technical-comparison/

For further information, please contact:
Lim Ee Guan
Director, Corporate Communications
Tel: +65 6450 1445
Email: eg.lim@asmpt.com

On behalf of ASMPT:
Strategic Financial Relations Limited
Mandy Go / Antonio Yu / Cara Lau
Tel: 2864 4812 / 2114 4319 / 2864 4890
Fax: 2527 1196
Email: mandy.go@sprg.com.hk / antonio.yu@sprg.com.hk / cara.lau@sprg.com.hk