Isola Group SARL to Purchase Gividi-Italy

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CHANDLER, Ariz. — Isola Group announces the acquisition of the assets and intellectual property of Gividi-Italy, a specialty manufacturer of fiber-glass cloth for the PCB industry. The company, located in Monza, Italy, has revenue of over $20 million, and will report to Isola Europe. The acquisition will be completed during April 1, though terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

"This acquisition strengthens our technology platform, enabling us to expand the development of proprietary finishes used for our rapidly growing, high-performance products segment," states Ray Sharpe, president and CEO of Isola Group. "This investment demonstrates the commitment of our shareholders to not only the printed-circuit industry, but to our new product development process as well."

Brian Swiggert of Prismark Partners cites the high-performance specialty laminate materials at approximately 14% of the global rigid and multi-layer PCB laminate market today, but states that this segment is growing at three times the rate of the overall laminate market. Prismark expects that specialty laminate materials will capture more than 20% of the market within five years, according to Swiggert.

The new company will be renamed Isola Fabrics S.r.l., according to Augusto Meozzi, European president for Isola Group. "We are very pleased that management and employees have agreed to join Isola. Marco Scari will remain as general manager, and Fabio Scari will remain as commercial director of the new company," he says. "Our companies have a long relationship—in fact, Gividi has been providing Isola specialty glass finishes for more than 15 years."

Sharpe does not see this acquisition negatively impacting Isola's preferred suppliers. He states, "This acquisition is really a strategic investment in new product development, and positions us to better support our European customers. We will work with our global supply base to ensure that they have access to any new finishes we develop. This is very important, as Isola Glass Fibers will not have sufficient capacity to meet all our needs. This is all about strengthening our technology platform."