Fairchild Moves on QT Optoelectronics Inc

Electronic News, April 17, 2000 by Carol Haber

Fairchild Semiconductor will acquire QT Optoelectronics Inc. (QTO), Sunnyvale, Calif., for about $100 million. The transaction will be mainly comprised of the South Portland, Maine, company's stock. It will take Fairchild smack into the $5.8 billion optoelectronics arena, where it was seeking an entrée for its multimarket products. QTO specializes in LED lamps and displays, infrared components, custom optoelectronics, and optocouplers. Revenues for 2000 are expected to be almost $90 million. QTO customers include Rockwell, Nortel, Lucent, and Celestica, among others. Fairchild at last count had an annual revenue run rate of $1.4 billion.

Entegris Seeks IPO

Entegris Inc., Minneapolis, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of 13,000,000 common shares, with 8,600,000 to be offered by the company and 4,400,000 by certain shareholders. Underwriters can purchase up to 1,950,000 additional shares for overallotments. Offering price is expected to be $15 to $17 per share. Meanwhile, lead underwriter is Banc of America Securities LLC with Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette as one of the co-managers. Net proceeds to the company will go to repay debt and for working capital and other general corporate purposes. Entegris provides materials management products and services to the microelectronics industry.

Infinite Designs at ARM

ARM Holdings Inc., Cambridge, U.K., purchased the business and assets of Infinite Designs Ltd., a private limited company based in Sheffield. Infinite Designs provides system-on-a-chip (SOC) products to OEMs for applications including advanced signal processing wireless and multimedia solutions. The move is expected to give ARM additional engineers, particularly in the key areas of SOC design and verification. ARM, a provider of intellectual property, licenses RISC processors, peripherals, and system chip designs to electronics firms.

Cisco Nets Seagull Unit

Cisco Systems Inc., San Jose, will acquire a wholly owned subsidiary of privately held Seagull Semiconductor Ltd., a developer of silicon technology based in Herzliya, Israel. It is Cisco's third acquisition in the country. The move is expected to accelerate development at Cisco of next-generation terabit performance routers. Cisco common stock and cash with an aggregate value of about $19 million will be exchanged for all the stock and options of the nine-person Seagull subsidiary.

Sun Fund Fans Out

Sun Microsystems Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., added $200 million more to its venture fund and widened the fund's focus to the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. "Having committed our initial $200 million pool, we're seeing opportunities around the world that warrant a broadening of our funding base and geographic focus," said Jonathan Schwartz, vice president of venture and strategic investments, at Sun. Originally, all attention was on California's Bay Area. Last week Sun announced additional California investments, however, for example in Beatnik Inc. of San Mateo, Graviton Inc. of San Diego, and Icarian Inc. of Sunnyvale.

Adtran 1Q Adds Up

Adtran Inc., Huntsville, Ala., reported sales for its first quarter of 2000 grew 28.9 percent to $99.5 million from $77.2 million in the same quarter a year ago. Net income rose 84.3 percent to $16.8 million from $9.1 million. Earnings per share, assuming dilution, jumped 77.6 percent to 42 cents from 24 cents. A surge in systems sales was cited. Adtran specializes in high-speed digital transmission products utilized by telcos and others.

GaSonics Offers Shares

GaSonics International Corp., a supplier of photoresist and Integrated Clean products for the semiconductor device industry, filed for a follow-on offering of 300,300,000 common shares with 2,800,000 to be offered by the company and 500,000 by certain stockholders. Lead underwriter is Banc of Amerca Securities LLC with CIBC World Markets and Robertson Stephens as co-managers.