Carlyle to acquire Kyoden.

Carlyle, a global investment firm, agreed to acquire Kyoden, a Japanese manufacturer of printed circuit boards. Financial terms were not disclosed. The company’s product suite spans a highly diversified set of industrial applications including automated guided vehicles, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, amusement machines, wired and wireless equipment, and automotive devices. The PCB industry faces increasing demand for higher density and miniaturization in circuit boards, multi-layer and build-up PCBs in particular, integrating more functionality into compact and lightweight devices. Kyoden’s highly differentiated offering also focuses on delivering a wide range of small-lot, prototype PCB products within short lead times, and has established a leading share of the domestic prototype PCB market.