Thai PCB maker Semiconductor Ventures International has staged a strong recovery after having almost been forced into liquidation three years ago, thanks to its new owner, US investment bank Hambrecht & Quist LLC.
SVI had seen its major shareholders change five times in a four-year period when the Stock Exchange of Thailand singled it out for possible delisting in 1997. But last year, H&Q bought a 95.24% stake in SVI, restructured its short-term debt into long-term debt and injected new capital.
SVI produces and assembles printed circuit boards for the computer and telecoms industries. Nearly all of its products have been exported to Europe, but an increasing amount are now going to the US market, thanks to H&Q’s connections.
Virapan Pulges, managing director of H&Q (Thailand), said the company plans on investing another $5m in SVI this year, and up to $50m in 2000. We hope to steadily expand our production facilities in Thailand, he said, adding mergers with related companies are one possibility. We will look for synergies in any deal. Our objective is to build SVI into a global company, he said.
The assembly plants were operating at 25% capacity when H&Q took over and are now at 50% with 70% capacity predicted by the end of the year.
