Chinese takeover of hi-tech firm

A CORK company has been acquired in a deal that sees it being the first Irish hi-tech firm to betaken over by a Chinese corporation.

The acquisition by the ZJF Group of manufacturing firm Firecomms will also see the creation of 12 jobs in the next year. The deal guarantees €5 million investment in research and development and will also help the expansion of Firecomms’ operations in mainland China.

Cork-based Firecomms, which was spun from the Tyndall Institute in 2001 is involved in plastic manufacturing. The company said they would not disclose the value of the deal for commercial reasons.