IPC Corp Ltd of Singapore, the dark horse that the French press has been suggesting as a bidder for a stake in Compagnie des Machines Bull SA (CI No 2,580) has, despite its headquarter’s location, made most of its money in Europe. Founded in 1976 by Patrick and Benjamin Ngiam as Essex Electric, the company became IPC, Intelligent Personal Computers, in 1985 and has interests stretching from manufacturing and distributing personal computers through point-of-sales systems and multimedia products, and does its own research and development. Over the years it has seen steady worlwide growth but in May 1993 when it was listed on the Singapore Bourse, it saw explosive growth and since then as embarking on an ambitious expansion programme in the Asia-Pac ific region including establishing its own subsidiaries and buying into established companies. And IPC appears to be able to afford this: in August last year it reported a 103% jump in first half sales to $329m and a 43% jump in net profits to $32m. This reversed the dip in 1993’s year-end profit figures which had suffered due to losses incurred at Austin Computer Inc in Austin, Texas, which IPC acquired in 1993 and renamed IPC Technologies Inc.

Torita

However, these losses seem to have been a blip as in 1994 the Austin outfit saw a first half profit of $1.4m, and estimated year-end sales of $250m, up two-and-a-half times on the previous year. More importantly perhaps, IPC Technologies has given a IPC a much-needed foothold in the US: in 1993, even when the Austin firm was not doing well, IPC’s US business rose to $100m from a mere $6m previously. IPC has invested $1.3m in new production lines to raise output. In the 1994 first half, the US contributed 27% to total group turnover. Previously the jewel in the crown had been Europe but for the first time last year, Asia overtook it in importance and contributed 42% of total sales, compared with just over 30% in first-half 1993. IPC believes that 1995’s figures will be even more impressive as its China venture, Torita Group Cos Inc, which began operations in 1994, begins contributing. Europe’s contribution dropped back to 30%. Its French operation reported a first-half loss of $273,200 although IPC said it was unconcerned, blaming the loss on the economic climate and it has clearly not given up on Europe: last summer it opened a UK board-stuffing plant, which represented an investment of around $5.7m, to supply what it believes is growing European demand. Whether or not IPC has set its sights on Bull, it most definitely is moving on the Asia-Pacific region. By 1997 it is planning to have doubled the number of IPC retail outlets targeting the small office-home office market to at least 300, in Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia and Australia which is due to get 40 IPC centres by the end of this year, mainly in New South Wales and Victoria. It is also increasing the number of distributors in Japan. In its attempts to expand in this area it has established IPC Capital Pte Ltd, with financial backing from the government-linked Singapore Technologies Group and Anchorage Capital Pte Ltd, which is chartered to lead its efforts to diversify in Asia.

By Maya Anaokar

In South Korea it has a subsidiary, IPC Corp Ltd, which last year won a contract worth more than $4m to supply point-of-sale terminals to members of the Korean Supermarket Association. In Hong Kong, IPC Corp (HK) Ltd markets IPC’s desktop computers, notebook computers and multimedia and other products. It was established last year with authorised and paid-up capital of $130,000. There are also plans to buy two companies: one in Singapore and one in Taiwan, where IPC will take a 33% stake. The deals will be worth a total of $8.2m. To date, IPC’s biggest deal in the region is its $26m investment to gain a 50.42% controlling stake in Torita, in the southern coastal Chinese city of Zhuhai, Guangdong, concluded last summer. IPC chose Torita as its firs t working partner in China because of its established consumer electronics business and propert

y interests. Originally, it had been courting another Zhuhai company, Giant Software Co Ltd, but delays in obtaining approval from the authorities and meeting Torita, which had more to offer, killed the deal. Although, Torita is not a technology company, IPC has gained Torita’s manufacturing facilities; the ability to brand its products as Torita’s; and direct access to Torita’s 25 subsidiaries and seven associated companies in China, and an extensive sales and distribution channel in 24 major provinces. Torita also has a considerable amount of land around Zhuhai and is developing an Electric City to house all of its subsidiaries in one location, as well as residential and commercial properties, although this is of less interest to IPC. IPC’s main goal is to have Torita build cheaper versions of its point-of-sale terminals, which should start shipping this year. By the second half of the year, it hopes to start producing low-cost personal computers aimed at the Chinese market. Torita is ranked number 16 in annual output among the top 100 industrial companies in China, and has aspirations to be among the top 10. It makes televisions for Sony Corp and Goldstar Ltd, and audio products for Sharp Corp, as well as consumer electronics and telecommunications equipment under its own name. At home in Singapore and on a lesser scale, IPC Corp took a 49% stake, worth $1.3m, in start-up firm Intellicard Systems Pte Ltd, developer and manufacturer of Personal Computer Memory Card International Association-standard cards. In Asia, IPC also has links with AT&T Corp and disk drive maker Quantum Corp.

AT&T

It has a joint development agreement with AT&T Microelectronics and last year unveiled its first product, the Telemetry-32 Simultaneous Communications Manager, an add-on peripheral for personal computers that enables users to perform a variety of communication and multimedia tasks simultaneously. In Hong Kong Corex, a subsidiary of IPC’s, supports Quantum Corp via service centres. Because of all this expansion IPC is currently restructuring its business into seven strategic units; previously the business was organised along geographical lines. The new units will be retail and home unit, peripheral business, vertical market applications, consumer electronics unit, value-added network services, systems integration and a research and development unit which will also act as a venture capital arm. IPC is also establishing research and development centres in the US, China and India. The intention is to turn advanced technology into saleable consumer products such as low-priced personal computers that can be sold for about $600. Apart from expanding its technology further, IPC says it plans to focus on business development, manufacturing and sales, marketing and distribution in the coming year.