China invests in plastic optical fiber (POF): ZJF Group acquires Firecomms

Zhejiang, China and Cork, Ireland--In the first ever technology acquisition of an Irish high-tech company by a Chinese corporation, the ZJF Group, an integrated Plastic Optical Fiber (POF) system and solutions provider with more than 3000 employees, acquired Cork-based Firecomms, a manufacturer of transceivers for consumer POF networks. The deal guarantees five million Euro ($6.8 million dollars) of investment in POF R&D, together with the expansion of Firecomms’ engineering team from 18 to 30 people over the next 12 months. The deal also will facilitate the rapid expansion of Firecomms’ operations in mainland China.

"For some time now, mainland China has been our largest market," said Firecomms CEO, Declan O'Mahoney. "As the ZJF Group is a major global player in this sector, today’s announcement not only allows us to guarantee investment capital and job growth for the future, it also provides us with access to the world’s largest marketplace for our technology."

"Our acquisition of Firecomms is driven by the recent decision by various provincial governments to classify Plastic Optical Fiber as a major construction focus across China," said Xuping Zheng, Chairman of the ZJF Group. "Delivering this infrastructure with copper cables would result in over one million tons of CO2 emissions for China and would be impossible to implement as the demand for copper would far outweigh the world’s supply. China is already the largest manufacturer of Plastic Optical Fiber and we are combining those huge resources with Firecomms’ leading technology."

Shareholders in Firecomms included Atlantic Bridge, ACT Venture Capital, Swisscom Ventures, Alps Electric and Enterprise Ireland. Brian Long, Managing Partner at Atlantic Bridge, and member of the Firecomms Board of Directors commented: "We are very pleased with this outcome, which positions Firecomms for continued growth and success in the world’s largest market. From our perspective, it reaffirms the strength of Atlantic Bridge as an investment vehicle, not only in terms of our capacity for making sound investments in the technology sector, but also the experience and strategic guidance provided by the Atlantic Bridge team to companies in our portfolio."

SOURCE: Firecomms; http://firecomms.com/PR-ZJF_Acquisition.html

Posted by:Gail Overton

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