Kyocera has completed a share transfer agreement with three investment funds operated by Japan Industrial Partners, to acquire all shares of - a specialized manufacturer of liquid rystal displays (LCDs) and related products. Effective February 1, 2012, Optrex will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kyocera Corporation.

Kyocera's Corporate Thin Film Components Group develops, manufactures and markets small- and medium-sized LCDs for industrial applications. Furthermore, since 2010 Kyocera has been expanding its capacitive touchscreen panel business and has garnered a good reputation for product quality and features such as thinness, strength and waterproof functionality for use in smartphones.

Kyocera expects that the acquisition will allow the company to further enhance the product lines of both its conventional industrial equipment applications and newly acquired automotive applications, and thus contribute to business expansion. Optrex also possesses excellent production technology for touchscreen panels, thus by combining both companies' product technologies and operating resources including customer bases,

Kyocera also expects to further enhance and expand its touchscreen panel business. This acquisition will enable Kyocera to further expand its LCD and touchscreen panel business and to meet a wider range of customer needs.