Here’s at least one sign of the technology sector holding up.
Advanced MP Technology Inc., a San Clemente electronics distributor, recently paid $12 million for a big building in Lake Forest.
The company bought the 125,000-square-foot building in the Corridor Business Park near the Foothill (241) Toll Road from a real estate investment trust, Industrial Property Fund I LP.
Advanced MP had leased the building under the name Sycrop, a company division that manages Advanced MP’s real estate holdings.
The building buy is part of a planned expansion of Advanced MP’s distribution operations, according to Kamran Malek, the company’s marketing director.
“We need more room,” he said.
The company’s main distribution center is at its headquarters in San Clemente. It also has facilities in Guadalajara, London, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
The Lake Forest building is “close to major freeways and the Orange County airport,” Malek said.
“We do a lot of business with freight companies,” he said.
According to media reports, Advanced MP counts some $400 million in yearly sales distributing computer chips, memory products and other electronics through its five distribution centers.
Advanced MP is one of a number of independent electronics distributors in Southern California, including Torrance-based Classic Components Corp. and Irvine-based Rand Technology Inc.
The company competes with big electronics distributors such as Arrow Electronics Inc. of Melville, N.Y., and smaller ones including Malvern, Pa.-based VerticalNet Inc., which acquired American IC Exchange LLC of Aliso Viejo in 2000.
Chief Executive Jeff Yassai founded the company in 1978.
Advanced MP also offers inventory management services, including inventory reduction programs designed to keep customers from getting stuck with unsold products during industry downturns.
Electronics distributors have been riding high in the past year as the market for technology parts rebounded from the lows of recent years.
Advanced MP is a member of the Princeton Junction, N.J.-based Independent Distributors of Electronics Association.
The group was formed to combat a reputation for bad business practices spurred by some in the industry.
Last year Advanced MP made headlines after winning a $5.7 million jury verdict against South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co.
Advanced MP filed a lawsuit alleging Samsung violated a price protection contract with the distributor.
In 2001, Samsung agreed to price protections on $30 million worth of dynamic random access memory Advanced MP bought for distribution.
But as prices fell, Samsung did not honor the agreement and refused to adjust prices to meet market conditions, Advanced MP claimed.
