CFI advised Newport Wafer Fab (Neptune 6) on its acquisition of IR Newport Limited from Infineon Technologies.

Cardiff – CFI has acted as lead advisor 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.

CFI provided strategic and financial advisory services to Neptune and led the commercial negotiations with the vendor and funders. The CFI team was led by Frank Holmes and Simon Marsden.

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/Managing Director at CFI, 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.”

Upon closing, the buyer intends to operate the site under the name Newport Wafer FabLtd.  The transaction was closed on 21 September 2017.