Joe, do you have any information on Triant {TNTTF}? See attached news realease from yesterday showing that Applied Materials took a stake in them. I bought this morning. Any thoughts you might have would be appreciated. Thanks, Jeff
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Applied Materials Makes Equity Investment in Triant Technologies
NANAIMO, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 16, 1999-- Triant Technologies Inc. (VSE:TNT; OTCBB:TNTTF) announced today that it has signed and closed two definitive agreements with Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT).
Under a private placement agreement, Applied Materials acquired a 12.5 percent equity in Triant for an investment of $2.2 million. Under a separate license agreement, Applied Materials became the exclusive value-added reseller (VAR), in the semiconductor industry, of Triant's equipment health monitoring and fault detection software technology.
"This agreement provides an opportunity to further develop Triant's technology to further enhance our process systems and Consilium's FAB300(TM) software offerings," said Sass Somekh, senior vice president, Office of the President, Applied Materials. "Our joint efforts will focus on helping customers better address the rapidly increasing requirement for increased overall productivity in their fabs."
"As the world's largest supplier of wafer fabrication systems and services, Applied Materials clearly understands the importance of our software technology, as well as its potential to shape the industry," said Paul O'Sullivan, president and chief executive officer, Triant. "Triant's goal is to become the leading supplier of equipment health monitoring and fault detection technology to the semiconductor industry. We believe this strategic relationship with Applied Materials will provide a significant step forward to realizing our goal."
Under the terms of the license agreement, Applied Materials has been granted the right to market a future version of Triant's equipment health monitoring and fault detection software, ModelWare/RT(TM), with its own products and services. Triant will receive a fee for each license shipped.
Triant will continue to license its end user version of ModelWare/RT to semiconductor manufacturers for retrofit on all makes and models of wafer processing equipment using existing and new distribution channels. In addition, Triant retains all rights to license its software technology for use in other industries.
Under the terms of the private placement agreement, Applied Materials has made an investment of $2,190,600 for 2,738,250 common shares, at a price of $0.80 per common share, and 2,738,250 common share purchase warrants. Each warrant is exercisable for one common share for a term of two years at a price of $0.80 per share in the first year and $1.20 per share in the second year. If all warrants were exercised, Applied Materials' interest would constitute 22.2 percent of Triant's outstanding shares.
Applied Materials, Inc. is a fortune 500 global growth company and the world's largest supplier of wafer fabrication systems and services to the global semiconductor industry. Applied Materials is traded on the Nasdaq National Market System under the symbol "AMAT". Applied Materials' web site is www.appliedmaterials.com.
Triant Technologies Inc. is a leader in semiconductor equipment health monitoring and advanced fault detection software solutions. Triant's principal product, ModelWare/RT(TM), is an innovative solution designed specifically for semiconductor manufacturers to detect and identify process and equipment faults in real-time and off-line. ModelWare/RT provides insight into equipment conditions and uses set-point and model-based alarms to quickly alert fab personnel of processing and equipment failures and benefits our customers by increasing overall equipment effectiveness, improving equipment maintainability and uptime, and increasing equipment throughput. Triant information is available via the Internet at www.triant.com.
This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause Applied Materials' actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to changes in supply and demand within the semiconductor industry, market acceptance of the Company's products and increased competition.
Certain of above statements include forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those implied by such forward-looking statements. Please refer to a discussion of these and other factors in the Company's 20-F, 6-K, Annual Information Form and other filings with United States, British Columbia and Ontario securities regulatory authorities.
CONTACT:
Triant Technologies Inc.
Paul O'Sullivan, President & CEO
Mark Stephens, Chief Financial Officer
250/754-4223 or 800-663-8611
posull@triant.com or stephens@triant.com
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA INTERNATIONAL CANADA
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