TOKYO -- A joint venture among Juki, Sony Corp., and Sony's placement equipment business unit have been formalized and will become operational Aug. 1.

The parties reached a formal agreement to integrate their respective SMT businesses under Juki Automation Systems, with an aim to strengthen the competitiveness of the SMT equipment and related businesses, the companies said in a press announcement.
 
The new company will be headquartered in Tokyo.
 
Juki will contribute about 81% of the capital to the JV, and Sony EMCS will contribute about 19%.

The joint venture company will restructure the development, design and sales organizations. In addition, it will strengthen the business foundation and expand it by improving the development efficiency, expanding sales, enhancing the product portfolio, and strengthening solution sales that leverage collective technological know-how. The transaction should be completed by this fall, subject to required approvals and permissions.