NEC Corporation and Sumitomo Electric (News - Alert) Industries today announced the acquisition of OCC Holdings and its subsidiary OCC Corporation, which manufactures fiber optic submarine cables.

 

NEC (News - Alert) and Sumitomo Electric said that they will acquire 100 percent ownership of OCC Holdings, the parent company of OCC Corporation, from investment fund managed by the Longreach Group.

 

NEC is expected to hold approximately 75 percent of the ownership, and Sumitomo Electric will hold around 25 percent of OCC Holdings.

 

NEC is a provider of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions, while Sumitomo Electric designs, manufactures, and sells electric cables, optical fibers and components, advanced electronic devices, automotive parts, cemented carbide tools and special steel wires.

 

Masamichi Imai, executive general manager of Broadband Networks Operations Unit at NEC Corporation, noted that the need for broadband capacity is rapidly expanding on a global scale, adding that to accommodate the growing worldwide demand, a broad range of new submarine cable systems are being planned and built.

 

“This acquisition represents a strategic advancement for NEC, one of the suppliers of submarine cable systems, and Sumitomo Electric, a supplier of optical products, that secures stable access to a rich source of high quality; highly reliable optical submarine cables,” Imai said.

 

Imai also said that the acquisition of OCC assures the company of maintaining a ‘dynamic leading presence” in undersea industries, and promises to “solidify each company’s market position.

 

“With the acquisition of OCC today by NEC and Sumitomo Electric, we aim to firmly establish our presence in the market of optical components and materials for the submarine fiber-optic network construction industry that is forecast to grow,” said Dr. Shigeru Tanaka, managing director at Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (News - Alert)

 

The acquisition is scheduled to be completed in July 2008.

 

The companies did not disclose the financial details of this acquisition.