Alps Alpine Co., Ltd. (Tokyo: 6770; President & CEO: Toshihiro Kuriyama) has increased its share ownership of Italian premium loudspeaker manufacturer Faital S.p.A. (Headquarters: Milan, Italy) to 80% from the initial 19.9% equity stake acquired by Alpine Electronics, Inc. in November 2018.
Alps Alpine has carved out a unique domain within the car audio segment over the years, delivering premium solutions under the Alpine brand, as well as through the OEM market to automakers. The company still considers the realm of sound to be an essential component of automotive electronics, even as the market anticipates a major reinvention of the in-vehicle experience. Looking ahead to the future, enhancing the value of sound will be crucial. In October 2018, Alpine and Faital, a manufacturer of premium speakers, agreed to enter a capital and business alliance allowing them to quickly strengthen the development capability, quality and cost competitiveness of speaker products and put forward attractive solutions within a premium domain underpinned by compact size and high efficiency where Alps Alpine holds an advantage.
Alps Alpine has now increased its equity stake in Faital to 80% from the initial 19.9% acquired by Alpine in 2018 when the tie-up was entered.
The new share ownership ratio makes the high-end speaker manufacturer a consolidated subsidiary. As the relationship strengthens, Alps Alpine will seek to expand its established sound and audio product business by heightening the corporate value of the Alpine brand of sound and further bolstering the product lineup under a coherent management structure encompassing planning and development through to production. Alps Alpine’s aim is to accelerate and enhance generation of synergies through business integration as the company moves toward attainment of its “ITC101” mid-term business plan – specifically, the achievement of \1 trillion sales and 10% operating income by fiscal 2024.
Additionally, strengthening of the alliance will be reflected in new sound system solutions indispensable to manufacturers of premium vehicles, including systems combining amplifiers and speakers for a premium sound, noise cancelers contributing to quiet cockpit spaces, and safety systems incorporating eSound technology.
