D-Link to spin off OEM/ODM business on September 1

Taiwan-based network equipment maker D-Link announced that the spin-off of its OEM/ODM business will be effective September 1. The new company will be named Alpha Technology and will apply to the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) on December 30 to go public before June 2004.Alpha will own D-Link’s production sites in both Taiwan and Dongguan, Guangdong Province (China), valued at about NT$2.4 billion, and take 1,700 employees from D-Link Taiwan’s 1,800 staff.According to A.P. Chen, COO of D-Link, the OEM/ODM business contributed NT$8 billion of D-Link’s total NT$16.4 billion in revenues last year. The OEM/ODM business is expected to grow to NT$12 billion this year, of which about NT$3.4 billion will be manufacturing orders placed by D-Link, and NT$16 billion next year.D-Link plans to reduce its holdings in Alpha to 70% before the new company applies to go public.Source: DigiTimes