INDUSTRY NEWS

EXPANSIONS AND ACQUISITIONS

Instrument firm set for sale

Advanced Energy Industries has signed a definitive agreement to buy a Colorado-based manufacturer of precision instruments for measuring liquids, steam, and gases. The firm, Engineering Measurements Co. (EMCO) of Longmont, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Advanced Energy. EMCO's shareholders will receive 900,000 shares of Advanced Energy common stock in the deal, which will be considered a pooling of interests. EMCO had $7.7 million in assets and sales of $6.8 million for the nine-month period ended January 2000, according to Advanced Energy. Based in Ft. Collins, CO, Advanced Energy is a market leader in power conversion and control systems, process-monitoring tools, and ion beam sources for plasma-based manufacturing technologies. In other news, Advanced Energy signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Berkeley Process Control of Richmond, CA. The agreement broadens Advanced Energy's product line to include Berkeley's integrated motion and machine control technologies.

ATMI buys ESCA

ATMI, a manufacturer of specialty semiconductor materials and support systems, has purchased ESCA and ESCA Ireland, which supply environmentally safe cleaning services. The pooling-of-interests transaction is valued at approximately $17 million. ESCA, which is based in Albuquerque and privately owned, specializes in servicing process tools. The company also has operations in Dallas, Phoenix, and Portland, OR. Consolidated revenues in the fiscal year ended September 30, 1999, totaled approximately $6 million. ATMI's services include material management, equipment servicing, and thin-film wafer deposition.

BOC partners with design firm

BOC Edwards and ISinc have formed a strategic alliance to develop advanced design tools and establish ISinc as a preferred supplier of 3-D system design services to BOC Edwards. The 3-D design capability allows the two firms to link ISinc's construction tools and BOC Edwards' engineering and process tools. The goal of the partnership is to improve designs while lowering both risk and project costs. Based in Austin, TX, ISinc was established in 1995 to provide design and construction management services to chipmakers.

BOC Edwards also announced the opening of a product demonstration laboratory in Santa Clara, CA. The supplier says the facility is the first such demonstration lab in the United States capable of both processing and abating semiconductor gases. The lab houses a variety of the vendor's gas management systems, including a thermal processing unit for abatement of CVD gases and a gas reactor column to chemically destroy toxic gases from vacuum pump exhausts.

MKS wants Spectra

MKS Instruments of Andover, MA, has signed an agreement to purchase Spectra International (Morgan Hill, CA), a manufacturer of spectrometer-based products for monitoring semiconductor, thin-film coating, and advanced materials processes. MKS makes gas measurement, control, and analysis products. Both product lines will be placed in the MKS Instruments Spectra Products group led by Spectra's founder, Michael Dent. MKS says it will pay $9.7 million in cash and assume approximately $1 million in long-term debt as part of the transaction.

Sitek becomes Prodéo

Sitek introduced a new corporate name and marketing program at Semicon West 2000. The Tempe, AZ­based maker and refurbisher of process equipment says its new name, Prodéo Technologies, derives from the Latin verb "to advance." The company's products include CMP systems, diffusion tools, LPCVD equipment, ultra-high-purity gas delivery systems, and rapid batch magnetic anneal systems.

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