Fujikura to Buy 60% of Spanish Wiring Harness Maker

Fujikura announced on Monday the firm will purchase 60% of Auxiliar de Componentes Electricos, S.A., which is Spanish automotive wiring harness maker based in Zaragoza. With acquisition of European production sites of ACE, Fujikura will establish supply bases for automotive electric components in world 4 major markets including Japan, China, North America and Europe. Fujikura’s sales for automotive electric components will increase to 55 billion yen for the year ending March 2008 compared with estimated 41 billion yen for the year to March 2007. ACE was established in 1992 as electric component maker, mainly for wiring harness. The firm provides the products for European major automakers and auto parts makers including Volkswagen of Germany. ACE’s annual sales were 122 million euro with around 10% of operating profit in 2005. ACE has 2 plants in Spain, 2 plants in Romania and a technical center in Germany along with Zaragoza headquarters plant in Europe. The firm also has plants in Queretaro and Puebla and sales force in Detroit. The firm has around 3,400 of employees in the world operations. Fujikura just opened technical center in Cologne in February though the firm already has production base in Japan, China and North America. They agreed for the partnership when ACE seeks some base in Asia to approach Chinese market. Fujikura’s president Kazuhiko Ohashi said the firm pays more than 10 billion yen for the acquisition. The firm could increase the interest in ACE in years. The firm targets 100 billion yen of annual sales for automotive electric component in 2010 through synergy for higher sales of flexible printed circuit board, radiation parts and optical fiber along with wiring harness.