Gambit Corporate Finance LLP (“Gambit”) and Acuity Legal (“Acuity”) have acted as lead advisors to Neptune 6 Limited (“Neptune”) on its acquisition of IR Newport Limited (“Newport Wafer Fab”) from Infineon Technologies AG (“Infineon”) with funding provided by HSBC and Welsh Government.
Newport Wafer Fab is the UK’s leading 200mm silicon conductor processing facility and manufactures semiconductors focused on power switching for the automotive, medical, industrial, consumer and telecoms markets. The site manufactures close to 8,000 wafers per week and employs around 480 staff, making it one of the key employers in the region.
The facility was established by INMOS in 1982 before being acquired by Hong Kong-based QPL in 1992.Following a management buy-out in 1999 backed by Apax Partners and on which Gambit advised management, the operation was acquired by US-based International Rectifier in 2002 and subsequently by Infineon in 2015.
Gambit and Acuity provided strategic, legal, and financial advisory services to Neptune and led the commercial negotiations with the vendor and funders. The Gambit team was led by Frank Holmes and Simon Marsden and the Acuity team by Stephen Berry and Christian Farrow.
The investment by Welsh Government is consistent with its stated ambition of creating the world’s first semiconductor cluster in South East Wales, and follows the recent announcement of the £38 million tech cluster deal signed, the first from the £1.2bn Cardiff Capital Region city deal.
Frank Holmes, Partner at Gambit, commented “This transaction is a brilliant example of how the public and private sector can work together hand in hand to back a world-class business with the clear potential to create significant stakeholder value and prosperity for the local and national economies. This truly enhances Wales’ reputation for creating and promoting world-leading, high-tech industries and we expect to see more and more of these partnerships working together.”
Simon Marsden, Director at Gambit, added “The Newport Wafer Fab is a critical component of the Welsh Government’s ambitions to create a semiconductor cluster and centre of excellence in South East Wales. We are delighted to have advised Neptune on this landmark transaction and look forward to seeing the business capitalise on the significant global opportunities in the semiconductor market from existing and new technologies.”
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