Display Giant BOE Bids for Two LCD Plants as Sector Consolidation Accelerates

What’s new: BOE Technology Group Co. Ltd., one of China’s three major makers of display panels, said it will bid for two LCD production facilities being sold by CEC Panda.

BOE said its bid for the two facilities, one in the city of Nanjing and the other in Chengdu, would be worth at least 11.8 billion yuan ($1.7 billion), according to filings (link in Chinese) on Wednesday to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. If successful, BOE would acquire 80.83% of the Nanjing facility and 51% of the Chengdu factory.

Both factories are held by CEC Panda’s money-losing listed unit Nanjing Huadong Electronics Information & Technology Co. Ltd., and are joint ventures with local government entities.

What’s the bigger story: China is rapidly emerging as one of the world’s top manufacturers of displays that are a key component of many gadgets, from smartphones to PCs and smart devices. The country is especially adept at making products using older, more mature LCD technologies.

At the same time, the industry in China is rapidly consolidating around three major players: BOE, TCL Technology and Tianma Microelectronics.

In one of the latest similar consolidating moves, TCL in June announced plans to acquire an additional 40% stake, worth about 4.2 billion yuan, in Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co. Ltd. to boost its control of the company.

Related: TCL Tech Plans $588 Million Deal to Boost Stake in Smaller Peer

Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use. To read the full Caixin article in Chinese, click here.

Contact reporter Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com) and editor Joshua Dummer (joshuadummer@caixin.com)

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