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Shimadzu, Marubun to Buy Nordiko tokyo and hampshire, england -- Shimadzu Corp. and Marubun Corp. will jointly buy Hampshire, England-based Nordiko Ltd., the companies revealed last week. Nordiko executives could not be reached for comment. Shimadzu, a precision instrument supplier, is expected to take about 55 percent of the British company. Meanwhile, Marubun, an independent electronics distributor, which already distributes Nordiko's equipment, will hold 33 percent stake in the company. The British firm is expected to retain the remainder. Several senior executive of Shimadzu and Marubun are expected to join the management of Nordiko. The purchase price was reported to be 22 million pounds (approximately $36.7 million), according to a joint statement from the Japanese firms. Nordiko provides thin-film equipment needed to produce giant magneto-resistive (GMR) heads for hard disk drives, an area Shimadzu has eyed for its own expansion. Shimadzu recently disclosed that it would strengthen its semiconductor-related business through the expansion of its product line to include manufacturing equipment for hard disks. Originally, the company hinted that this would be based on its measurement and industrial machinery technology. It appears that the majority interest in Nordiko will also provide for this bolstering of Shimadzu's product line. Prior to the deal with Marubun and Nordiko, the newly-added products included disk surface inspection instruments and a device for making DLC thin films for the protection of hard disks. The DLC thin-film device is said to create a hard, non-peeling DLC film for hard disk protection that is less than five-billionths of a meter thick. Marubun would be in charge of sales of the products in Japan. |