Comdisco Inc says that its electronics division has formed a joint venture with Itochu Corp, a huge Japanese general trading firm, to lease semiconductor manufacturing and testing equipment. The new company, ComIto Equipment Management Services, will be based in Japan to capitalize on the estimated $10bn Japanese test and assembly equipment market. ComIto will lease new and used equipment, as well as sell both currently installed and refurbished equipment. The tie-up is expected to exploit Comdisco’s equipment management experience to expand the business aggressively in Japan using Itochu’s existing sales channels. The new entity will be headquartered in Tokyo and has initial paid-in capital of about $4m – of which Comdisco supplied 60% and Itochu, 40%. Paul Maruoka, managing director of Comdisco’s electronics division in Japan, has been named chief executive of the venture, which will start out with only 11 employees taken from both parents. Itochu, founded in 1858, had consolidated sales last year of more than $135bn. In July, Comdisco reported nine-month sales of $2.04bn.
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