Foxconn unit to buy Belkin in brand push

Taipei: FIT Hon Teng Ltd, part of the contract manufacturing giant Foxconn Technology Group, agreed to buy Belkin International Inc in the latest move by billionaire Terry Gou to expand in branded goods. FIT will pay $866 million (Dh3.18 billion) in cash for Belkin, a maker of Wi-Fi routers, mobile device chargers and keyboards, the company said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday. The deal will give it access to strong research and development capacity with Belkin owning more than 700 patents, it said. Gou, whose empire includes the main assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, is seeking to expand beyond contract production to capture more of the value chain in branded groups.