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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: niek who wrote (23176)	6/22/2008 4:08:16 PM
From: allatwwk	Respond to of 25522

Could be right in the ASMI family thing. It wouldn't surprise me if the deal is all about the egos of the father and son. Specifically, what job is the son going to get next. Still ASMI has restive shareholders and a difficult structure. If AMAT really thinks its a good idea, they can wait until ASMI gets weaker in this downturn. As the shares get cheaper, AMAT's offer will look better.

To: niek who wrote (23176)	6/23/2008 12:00:54 PM
From: allatwwk	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

ASMI, shareholders to put court case on hold-paper Mon Jun 23, 2008 2:56am EDT AMSTERDAM, June 23 (Reuters) - Dutch chip equipment maker ASM International and activist investors plan to put a court battle on hold to give management time to negotiate with interested buyers, a newspaper reported on Monday. Dutch financial daily Het Financieele Dagblad said the parties had, however, not yet agreed on specifics, with British pension fund manager Hermes, one of the activist shareholders, pushing for a concrete deadline at the end of the summer. A Dutch court had given the struggling company and its investors, who are trying to sack Chief Executive Chuck del Prado, until Monday to resolve their differences or face a ruling on ASMI's poison pill. In the meantime, U.S. rival Applied Materials and private equity firm Francisco Partners approached ASMI over the sale of key units for up to $800 million. ASMI rejected this approach on Friday as too low. ASMI shares have soared about 24 percent since Applied Materials first approached the company in early June. The Dutch company has been under pressure from activist shareholders for more than two years, sparked by years of losses at ASMI's "front end" unit that makes machines for the early stages of chip manufacturing. (Reporting by Niclas Mika; Editing by Rory Channing)