Anaheim-based circuit board maker Multi-Fineline Electronix Inc. may just yet get out of an unwanted deal.
The company, known as M-Flex, is contesting an arranged marriage with sister company MFS Technology Inc. of Singapore. Both M-Flex and MFS, another circuit board maker, are owned by Singapore’s WBL Corp.
In March, M-Flex offered to buy MFS for $500 million in a deal backed WBL, a holding company for a wide range of businesses, including electronics and real estate development.
Now word from Singapore is WBL may not be so hot on the deal after months of wrangling by M-Flex, including a lawsuit against its parent company.
WBL has let an offer to sell its 55.7% stake in MFS to M-Flex lapse. The company’s original offer to sell the shares,dubbed an “undertaking” in Singapore,dates back to March and expired at year’s end.
“We are not extending the letter of undertaking currently,” the XFN-Asia news service recently quoted an unnamed WBL source as saying.
Instead, WBL is seeking legal and financial advice on what to do next, according to the report.
That could put an end to the drawn-out saga that was intended to create one of the world’s largest makers of flexible circuit boards for mobile phones and other devices.
Early on, M-Flex said it hoped to expand production by acquiring MFS. Soon after the deal was announced, MFS posted an 8% drop in quarterly sales and nearly a 50% freefall in gross profits.
M-Flex, which also issued its own profit warnings last year, went to court to force WBL to vote against the combination.
For more on this story, see Jan. 22 edition of the Business Journal.
