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Technology Stocks : Semi Equipment Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Return to Sender who wrote (7873)	12/23/2002 6:08:35 PM
From: Return to Sender	Respond to of 95530

UPDATE - CoorsTek agrees to buyout, cuts Q4 sales view Monday December 23, 4:51 pm ET By Jim Christie biz.yahoo.com (Adds analysts' comments, share price; changes dateline, adds byline, previous GOLDEN, Colo.) SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 23 (Reuters) - CoorsTek Inc. (NasdaqNM:CRTK - News), a semiconductor equipment maker, on Monday said a group of private investors led by top management and a trust representing the Coors brewing family had offered to pay more than $220 million to take the company private. The cash bid of $26 per share was 24 percent higher than a $21 per-share bid the CoorsTek board had rejected as insufficient in November and represented a 12 percent premium compared with Friday's close for the company's shares. CoorsTek stock closed up 9.8 percent, or $2.28, at $25.48 on the Nasdaq on Monday. The Coors family has sought to take advantage of the semiconductor industry's downturn to bid on the company, formerly Coors Ceramics and once part of Adolph Coors Co. (NYSE:RKY - News), in expectation it will recover when the chip industry pulls out of its current slump. The higher bid came as CoorsTek warned fourth-quarter revenue would be lower than expected because of weak results from its chip equipment component and assembly segments. Keystone Holdings LLC, which is headed by CoorsTek Chairman, President, and Chief Executive John Coors, had agreed to pay $26 per share for the 8.6 million outstanding shares of CoorsTek it does not already own, CoorsTek said. Coors and some other members of the group, which currently owns about 27 percent of CoorsTek stock, are descendants of Adolph Coors, founder of the Golden, Colorado-based Adolph Coors brewing company. As part of the deal, the group would assume about $104 million of CoorsTek debt and gain $51 million in cash in CoorsTek's treasury. The deal allows CoorsTek to seek other takeover offers until Jan. 10. The company would owe Keystone a $9 million breakup fee if it terminates the deal, it said. REVENUES REVISED DOWN CoorsTek, which has been hurt by a protracted downturn in the semiconductor industry, said it expects fourth-quarter revenue of $79 million to $82 million, representing an 18 percent to 21 percent decline from the third-quarter. Investec Inc. analyst Timothy Summers said CoorsTek reported a slow December amid across-the-board weakness in its semiconductor business, which supplies components to large chip equipment makers. That weakness reflects lower capital spending, as chip equipment makers try to shore up year-end finances by deferring capital spending until next year, Summers said. "Unless they absolutely have to spend the money this year, like everybody else they're pushing expenses into next year," Summers said. CoorsTek also may have been squeezed by falling prices, said Banc of America Securities analyst Mark Fitzgerald. "We knew it would be a down quarter, but it was down harder than we thought," Fitzgerald said. "I think pricing is a bigger problem than at the beginning of the quarter." Despite its revenue shortfall, CoorsTek said it still expects to invest about 3 percent of its sales in research and development in the fourth quarter and that its general expenses would range between 16 percent and 17 percent of sales. CoorsTek may also be required to record an additional minimum pension liability of $18 million to $22 million, depending on its year-end pension plan asset values, it said.