In a 13G/A filed on March 12, 2008 with the SEC, Bel Fuse Inc. announced that Daniel Bernstein, President and CEO, sent the following letter to Jay Walters, Chairman and Richard Thompson, CEO of Power-One, Inc.. On February 25, 2008, Bel announced that it had purchased 4,370,052 shares, or approximately 5%, of the common stock of Power-One.
Dated March 10, 2008, and addressed to Jay Walters – Chairman of the Board, and Richard J. Thompson – Chief Executive Officer of Power-One, Inc., Bernstein states:
Dear Mr. Walters and Mr. Thompson,
I am writing this letter to you as CEO of Bel Fuse, Inc., a large shareholder of Power-One.
As I believe you know, Bel is a publicly held company engaged in the design, manufacture and sale of electronic components and modules used in the networking, computing, automotive, consumer products, and medical industries. Bel has a 57–year history of providing innovative products and solutions to its customers, many of which are world–class companies and market leaders in their respective fields. We have grown robustly through a combination of technological leadership, internal growth, and acquisitions. Our company is listed and traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange, and has sales of over $250 million and a market capitalization of over $320 million.
For many years, it has been Bel’s strategy to grow our power business through acquisition. I greatly admire Power-One and I believe it would make a perfect partner for Bel because:
Power-One and Bel focus on product families that are the same or closely related, and our technologies, products, and know–how strongly complement each other.
There are significant opportunities for the realization of synergies resulting from the combination of our businesses.
Combining our operations on a global basis would result in the broadest range of products in the industry.
In short, the strategic fit between Bel and Power–One is ideal. It is our strong belief that such a transaction would enable our two organizations to best serve our respective customers, shareholders and employees.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have tried to contact you both to discuss this opportunity and other ideas. Hopefully after reviewing this letter, you will see that there is a benefit to a meeting.
Thank you and I look forward to your prompt response.
Regards,
Daniel J. Bernstein
President and Chief Executive Officer
PowerPulse.Net contacted Power-One for a comment on the communication from Bel, but as of press time, Power-One had issued no response.
