ZJF Acquires Firecomms

ZJF Group, an integrated plastic optical fiber system and solutions provider located in China, has acquired Ireland-based Firecomms Ltd., a manufacturer of transceivers for consumer plastic optical fiber.

The deal guarantees €5 million investment in R&D, together with the expansion of Firecomms’ engineering team from 18 to 30 people over the next 12 months. It also is expected to facilitate the rapid expansion of Firecomms’ operations in mainland China.

"For some time now, mainland China has been our largest market,” said Firecomms CEO, Declan O'Mahoney. “As the ZJF Group is a major global player in this sector, [the arrangement] not only allows us to guarantee investment capital and job growth for the future, it also provides us with access to the world’s largest marketplace for our technology.”

“Our acquisition of Firecomms is driven by the recent decision by various provincial governments to classify plastic optical fiber as a major construction focus across China,” said Xuping Zheng, chairman of the ZJF Group. "Delivering this infrastructure with copper cables would result in over one million tons of CO₂ emissions for China and would be impossible to implement as the demand for copper would far outweigh the world’s supply. China is already the largest manufacturer of plastic optical fiber, and we are combining those huge resources with Firecomms’ leading technology.”

Shareholders in Firecomms included Atlantic Bridge, ACT Venture Capital, Swisscom Ventures, Alps Electric and Enterprise Ireland.

For more information, visit: www.firecomms.com