HONG KONG (Wall Street Journel) — Japan’s Covalent Materials Corp., which is part-owned by U.S. private-equity firm Carly le Group, is selling its silicon-wafer business to a Taiwan peer for 35 billion yen ($455 million).

Taiwan’s Sino-American Silicon Products Inc., or S.A.S., agreed to buy the business from Covalent, formerly known as Toshiba Ceramics Co. Covalent’s silicon-wafer products are widely used in the semiconductor industry.

The company’s other main business, which involves ceramics products, isn’t included in this deal.

In 2006, electronics giant Toshiba Corp. sold Covalent to Carlyle and Japanese private-equity firm Unis on Capit al for about 91 billion yen — marking a rare example of a management buyout backed by private equity. Management owns a small percentage of Tokyo-based Unison. A spokeswoman for Carlyle declined to say whether it made a profit on the wafer unit’s sale to S.A.S. Unison Capital officials weren’t immediately available to comment.

S.A.S. said Covalent’s wafer business employs about 1,400 people. It generated revenue of 41 billion yen and operating income of 500 million yen in the fiscal year ended March 31. Citigroup Inc. acted as financial adviser to S.A.S. and underwriter for the acquisition financing.