Nidec to acquire SV Probe

For this purpose, Nidec-Read entered into a stock purchase agreement on August 21, 2017. The purchase price is USD 65 million (on a cash and debt-free enterprise value basis) and the consideration will be all cash. The closing of the transaction is scheduled for the end of October 2017. Founded in 1994 as a manufacturer of probe cards for semiconductor wafer inspection, SV Probe has operations in Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, China and Vietnam. The company reported revenues of SGD 76.6 million (USD 56.5 million) for fiscal 2016 (ended June 30, 2016). Nidec-Read’s main business is the development, manufacturing and sales of inspection equipment for semiconductor package substrates and printed circuit boards, as well as inspection fixture. In recent years, it has expanded its product portfolio into small capacitance measurement equipment for touch screen panels and optical inspection equipment for semiconductor wafers. Embedded electronic active/passive components in smartphones and IoT devices are required to be increasingly small and power efficient. Additionally, new semiconductor packaging technologies that created embedded electronic component substrates and Fan Out Wafers Level Packages (FOWLP) are diversifying and tightening inspection requirements. Nidec-Read has sought for a new inspection method that responds to the foregoing development in semiconductor packaging and that ensures its mid- to long- term growth target. The acquisition of SV Probe is Nidec-Read’s important step in that direction. Through the Transaction, Nidec-Read expects to gain competitiveness in the inspection market by applying its MEMS spring probe technology to the vertical probe cards manufactured by SV Probe. In addition, by mutually sharing its cutting-edge processing and assembly technology with SV Probe, Nidec-Read will be able to reduce manufacturing costs and improve investment efficiency. Nidec-Read also expects to sell its inspection equipment through SV Probe’s sales channel to the leading semiconductor manufactures.