Swedish electronics manufacturer NOTE AB announced on September 24, 2007 that it has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Philippines-based manufacturer Ionics EMS. As part of the agreement NOTE will acquire 50% of Ionics EMS’s new manufacturing facility in China.
“Our intention is to utilise the unit for existing and new customers. We already have customers in the Telecom and Industrial segments that need production in China and Asia. This initiative also means us consolidating our role as a long-term partner for our major customers,” said Arne Forslund, president and CEO of NOTE.
“The facility has annual production capacity equivalent to some SEK500m, and current capacity utilisation is less than SEK100m. The acquisition is fully consistent with our long-term strategy of starting production capacity in cost-efficient countries. We can now address customers with a focus on the growing Asian markets,” Forslund added.
NOTE, headquartered in Danderyd, Sweden, is a contract manufacturers of electronics in the Nordic region. The company has 1,100 employees in Sweden, Finland, Norway, the UK, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland, and reported sales of SEK1.74bn in 2006. NOTE is listed on the Nordic Exchange in Stockholm.
