Foxconn unit buys Belkin for $886 million in push into brands

Taipei: FIT Hon Teng Ltd, part of the contract manufacturing giant Foxconn Technology Group, agreed to buy Belkin International Inc. in the latest move by billionaire Terry Gou to expand in branded goods.

FIT will pay $886 million in cash for Belkin, a maker of Wi-Fi routers, mobile device chargers and keyboards, the company said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday. The deal will give it access to strong research and development capacity with Belkin owning more than 700 patents, it said.

Gou, whose empire includes the main assembler of Apple Inc.’s iPhones, is seeking to expand beyond contract production to capture more of the value chain in branded groups. In 2016 he led a deal for control of Japan’s Sharp Corp. and he is also investing in artificial intelligence and big data.

“Belkin International is a world-recognized brand, with a wide range of offerings of consumer electronics products, services and solutions,” FIT said in the filing.

Belkin had sales of about $789 million in the fiscal year ended 30 September, FIT said. Bloomberg