Vishay will acquire Infineon's infrared components business
-- Infineon focuses on core business
-- Vishay expands market position
biz.yahoo.com
MUNICH, Germany & MALVERN, Penn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 28, 2001--Vishay Intertechnology Inc., Malvern, Pennsylvania (NYSE: VSH - news), and Infineon Technologies AG, Munich (FSE/NYSE: IFX), today announced that Vishay will acquire Infineon's entire infrared components business with worldwide headquarters in San Jose, California, for approximately US$ 120 million. Under the terms of the respective agreement Vishay will take over Infineon's development, marketing and distribution activities in San Jose and its production facility in Malaysia. A total workforce of approximately 1,200 is currently employed within this business. In fiscal year 2000 Infineon's infrared components business posted revenues of US$ 133 million. Subject to governmental approvals including the anti-trust authorities, the sale is expected to be completed by end of July 2001.
The ownership of the production facility will be transfered in two steps in order to guarantee a smooth transition. In the first stage, Vishay will own 19 percent of Infineon Technologies Krubong Shd., the newly founded production joint venture in Malaysia, while Infineon will own 81 percent of the shares. The remaining shares of the production facility are expected to be transferred to Vishay during the year 2002.
``This divestiture is another important step to streamline our communications portfolio. With the sale of the infrared components business and the sale of our consumer electronics to Micronas last November, we have completed our plan to concentrate our wireline activities for the present and will continue to expand our strategic core activities in the field of local area networks (LAN) and wide area networks (WAN) as well as in network access,'' explained Dr. Ulrich Schumacher, President and CEO of Infineon. ``In Vishay, we have found an excellent partner with a mutual interest in securing the future of the successful and profitable infrared components business.''
Dr. Felix Zandman, Chairman and CEO of Vishay stated: ``This acquisition will enable Vishay to significantly strengthen its current position in Optoelectronics and specifically in the growing Infrared Components portion of that market.''
Supporting the telecommunications and industrial markets, infrared components are used primarily as optical interfaces in a broad array of electronic devices including PCs, cell phones, PDAs, industrial automation systems, set-top boxes, voice/data switching and data transmission equipment. The products included in the acquisition are optocouplers and solid-state relays, IrDT (Infrared Data Transmission) modules, DAA (Data Access Arrangements) kits and custom opto modules. |
