NXP plans two joint ventures

The management team of ST-NXP Wireless will comprise managers from both parent companies. Alain Dutheil, presently chief operating officer (COO) of STMicroelectronics, has been assigned to lead ST-NXP Wireless as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) focusing exclusively on the new joint venture. The Executive Committee of ST-NXP Wireless, led by Alain Dutheil, will include: • Abhijit Bhattacharya, currently financial controller, Multimarket Semiconductors Business Unit, NXP, who is nominated to take the position of Chief Financial Officer of the joint venture • Tommi Uhari, current executive vice president and general manager of Mobile, Multimedia & Communications Group, STMicroelectronics • Marc Cetto, current executive vice president and general manager of Mobile & Personal Business Unit, NXP. ST-NXP Wireless will be headquartered in Switzerland. Aiming to close in Q3/08, the deal is subject to regulatory approvals and labor council consultation. ---------- Following the announcement of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between NXP Semiconductors and Thomson on 14 February this year, the two companies have signed a definitive agreement on the transaction to combine their can tuner module operations in a joint venture. NXP will have a 55% holding in the new venture and Thomson the remaining 45%. In 2007, these operations posted combined sales of over approximately €160 million. The new organization will comprise approximately 4,000 employees, the majority of these being staff from NXP and Thomson manufacturing operations in Indonesia. The CEO of the joint venture will be an NXP designate, Pieter Paumen, and Thomson will assign the CFO - Philippe Nau. Julian Waldron, CEO of Thomson, commented: “We are pleased to have reached a definitive agreement with NXP on the creation of this joint venture. This represents an initial step towards the simplification of Thomson's business portfolio to allow us to focus on developing our position in video solutions.” NXP and Thomson expect that the transaction will close in the third quarter of 2008, subject to closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.