KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 1): Inari Amertron Bhd (KL:INARI) has partnered with China’s Sanan Optoelectronics Co Ltd to jointly acquire the entire stake in Lumileds Holding B.V. and its subsidiaries for an enterprise value of US$239 million (RM1.03 billion), marking a strategic expansion into the global light-emitting diode (LED) market.
The acquisition, to be satisfied entirely in cash, will be executed via a special purpose vehicle incorporated in Hong Kong, co-owned by Sanan (74.5%) and Inari (25.5%), which will assume 100% ownership of Lumileds Holding and its 11 Asian and European subsidiaries (Lumileds International).
In addition to the purchase price, both parties will inject US$41 million for working capital purposes, bringing the total investment outlay to US$280 million, the outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) firm showed in a bourse filing on Friday.
Inari’s portion of the investment, totalling US$71.4 million, will be funded from the remaining proceeds of its private placement exercise completed in July 2021.
Sanan, established in November 2000, is a high-end LED chip manufacturer in China. It is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange with annual revenue of 16.1 billion yuan (RM9.6 billion) for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2024 (FY2024).
Lumileds International, headquartered in Amsterdam, is a global producer of mid-to-high-end LED products serving the automotive lighting, camera flash and specialty illumination end-markets.
Lumileds International reported a net loss of US$67 million in FY2024, while revenue amounted to US$589 million.
For the first quarter ended March 31, 2025, Lumileds International made a net loss of US$17 million on the back of a revenue of US$141 million.
The acquisition is expected to expand Inari’s current product portfolio and enhance its captive business model.
“The operational efficiency of Lumileds International is expected to improve significantly with Inari’s active participation as a shareholder and management of Lumileds International as its entire back-end assembly operations are located in Penang with more than 2,500 employees. Both Inari and Malaysia stand to benefit from the continued growth of operations locally, strengthening the local electrical and electronics ecosystem,” Inari added.
There are no liabilities assumed by Inari in the deal, which is expected to be completed by its third financial quarter ending March 31, 2026.
The joint acquisition is not subject to approval from Inari’s shareholders, save for the approval from Bank Negara Malaysia for the overseas remittance of its capital contribution.
In addition, the proposed joint acquisition also requires approval from the relevant foreign regulatory authorities, as well as the approval from the shareholders of Sanan.
Inari's cash and cash equivalent stood at RM2.14 billion as at end-March. There is no any outstanding borrowing.
Inari’s share price closed higher by two sen or 0.95% at RM2.13 on Friday, bringing the group a market capitalisation of RM8.07 billion. Its share price has fallen by 44% over the last one year.