SALT LAKE CITY -- CirTran Corp. has transferred its open and active purchase orders relating to its contract electronics manufacturing business to a new ownership group led by its former COO.

The new owners will lease equipment and 19,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space, and will retain the company's EMS employees. The group, Katana Electronics, is headed by Shaher Hawatmeh, who had been CirTran's COO since 1995.

The move leaves CirTran to focus on its branded beverage and fitness equipment businesses. “With this strategic move, CirTran will reduce costs dramatically while generating revenue as a landlord and by leasing equipment," CirTran president and CEO Iehab J. Hawatmeh said.

CirTran is one of the world's smallest publicly traded EMS companies, will 2009 contract assembly sales of roughly $1.3 million last year.