(Yicai) Aug. 28 -- BYD Electronic International, an iPad-assembling unit of Chinese auto and battery giant BYD, will pay CNY15.8 billion (USD2.2 billion) for the Chinese smartphone parts factories of US manufacturer Jabil.

BYD Electronic will pay cash for Jabil Circuit Singapore’s plants in Chengdu and Wuxi, its Shenzhen-based parent company said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today. The deal will expand the unit’s phone parts business and much improve its client and product structure, it said.

The sale represents the biggest deal yet for Jabil, the Florida-based maker of printed circuit boards said, offering it the chance to invest in electric vehicles, renewable energy, healthcare, artificial intelligence cloud data centers, and other end-user markets, it added.

Jabil ranks fourth among the world’s top 50 largest electronics manufacturing service providers, according to a list compiled by research firm MMI, while BYD Electronics was sixth and the only Chinese firm in the top 10. The US company has 100 branches and more than 250,000 employees in 30 countries.

Jabil’s plant in Chengdu is one of its largest in China and supplies adhesives, anodizing products, anti-fouling coatings, automation, and battery management, it noted. The Wuxi factory provides premier services, including printed circuit board assembly, box kits, configure-to-order services, and automated manufacturing systems, it added.

BYD Electronics expects net profit to have soared between 115 percent and 146 percent in the six months ended June 30 from a year earlier, it said recently. The firm put the gain down to a higher share of big clients, new energy vehicle business growth, new smart products, a higher capacity utilization rate, and an optimized business structure.

BYD Electronics [HKG: 0285] ended unchanged at HKD32.85 (USD4.19) per share in Hong Kong today, after earlier plunging by as much as 9 percent. BYD [SHE: 002594] closed 1.3 percent higher at CNY235.53 (USD32.29) in Shanghai, while its Hong Kong stock [HKG: 1211] rose 0.7 percent to end at HKD225.20 (USD28.70).

Editor: Martin Kadiev