FILWEL Co.,Ltd

Investment timing: 2016/1
Exit timing: 2019/9
Deal type: Carve-Out
Fund: AG I
Status: Exit

Investment Background

FILWEL is a major player in the non-woven fabric precision polishing pad manufacturing industry (mainly for HDD, LCD glass, and silicon wafer polishing applications). In response to the business carve-out needs of its former parent company, Aspirant Group invested in the company with the theme of pursuing further growth by leveraging the company’s technological capabilities, as well as increasing the profitability through yield improvement.

Post-Investment Activities

Development of Infrastructure

• Development of an accounting management system
• Design/management of meeting structure

Rationalization

• Reallocation of Management Resources (Decision-making on business continuity through profitability monitoring)
• Improvement in Productivity – Reduction of order loss (Automation/improvement of efficiency of processes through introduction of inspection/evaluation machines)
• Improvement in Productivity – Cost reductions (Improvement of yield ratio)
• Pricing Strategy (Appropriate pricing based on cost analysis)

Support for Growth

• Sales Support/Sales Channel Expansion, etc. (Acceleration of customer proposals for overseas markets)
• R&D/Capital Investment (Market analysis and development support for new products)

Exit

In 2019, the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Air Water, a major player in the industrial gas industry, as the company met Air Water’s need to expand its specialty chemicals business targeting the electronic materials sector.