News

Exide Electronics & Japan Storage Battery Sell Joint Venture

February 17, 1999 by Jeff Shepard

Japan Storage Battery (Japan) and Exide Electronics Group Inc. (Raleigh, NC) announced the sale of their joint venture, GS-EE (Japan), to Japan Storage Battery. GS-EE was established ten years ago as a joint venture, selling uninterruptible power supplies to the two parent companies. Under the terms of the agreement, GS-EE will continue to provide sales and service for both JSB and Exide Electronics products. Effective immediately, GS-EE will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan Storage Battery. The transaction is expected to enable GS-EE to realize additional efficiencies by integrating more closely with JSB. GS-EE will also remain a major distribution partner for Exide Electronics."By GS-EE becoming a wholly owned subsidiary, we will now be able to realize greater synergies with our existing GS sales, service and engineering activities," stated Hitoshi Tamura, managing director and general manager of JSB's Power Supply Division. "We will continue to enjoy the quality products and excellent support of Exide Electronics. This transaction allows us to reduce our expenses, while still enjoying the broadest product lineup in the Japan UPS marketplace."Austin Farnham, general manager of Exide Electronics Japan Operations, stated, "Our new relationship with JSB complements a number of long-term relationships we have already established with other distribution partners in Japan. This transaction furthers our commitment to help our Japan partners attain market leadership. We can now integrate all our Japan support resources into one operation. Our customers will see more focused support for our products as a result of consolidating these activities into one organization."