SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 2006--Metron Technology, Inc. today announced an agreement with UMS Solutions Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Norelco UMS Holdings Limited, to purchase UMS Solutions' parts cleaning and recycling business in Singapore for $9.28 million. The acquisition will enhance Metron's capabilities to provide customers in Southeast Asia with advanced, high-quality parts cleaning services to support their integrated circuit manufacturing requirements. The acquisition of these assets from UMS Solutions will allow Metron to immediately expand and upgrade its existing cleaning, coating, refurbishment and kitting services in Singapore. In addition to increasing its capacity to serve customers, Metron will be able to support customers' leading-edge technology needs, with comprehensive 200mm and 300mm capability, including robotic arc and plasma spray, full copper and non-copper segregation, and 90nm and below services.
"The acquisition enhances Metron's position as the leading global service provider of critical parts cleaning, coating, refurbishment and analytical technologies to the semiconductor industry," said Werner Finsterbusch, general manager of Metron Technology. "This strategic investment builds on our recent acquisition of ChemTrace by expanding our fab-wide service capability and enhancing Metron's ability to deliver state-of-the-art service technology to customers worldwide."
The acquired Singapore business will be operated as part of Metron, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Applied Materials. Metron currently owns and operates parts cleaning service facilities throughout North America and in Europe, Israel, Taiwan and Singapore.
The transaction, which is subject to certain conditions, is anticipated to close within 30 days.
This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to the acquisition of assets of Norelco UMS Holdings Limited and Metron's strategic position, technology leadership and service capabilities. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied, including but not limited to: the satisfaction of closing conditions and the successful integration and performance of the acquired business; sustainability of demand in the semiconductor and semiconductor equipment industries, which is subject to many factors, including global economic conditions, business spending, consumer confidence, demand for electronic products and integrated circuits, and geopolitical uncertainties; business conditions in Southeast Asia; Applied Materials' and Metron's ability to develop, deliver and support a broad range of products and to support non-Applied Materials systems; the retention of key employees; and other risks described in Applied Materials' Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K filed with the SEC. All forward-looking statements are based on management's estimates, projections and assumptions as of the date hereof and Applied Materials assumes no obligation to update any such statement.
Metron Technology, Inc. is an independent supplier of fab-wide support services to the semiconductor and related industries providing custom integrated solutions for optimizing operations and improving manufacturing efficiency. Metron is headquartered in San Jose, California, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Applied Materials, Inc. Metron can be found on the web at www.metrontech.com.
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