BE Semi to buy Datacon

BE Semiconductor Industries N.V. a manufacturer of assembly equipment for the semiconductor industry, announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the ordinary shares of Datacon Technology AG (“Datacon”) for a total consideration of € 72.6 million, of which € 65 million will be in cash and the balance in 1,933,842 newly issued ordinary Besi shares. The transaction, unanimously approved by the Board of Besi and the shareholders of Datacon, is expected to close in January 2005 and is subject to certain government and regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Besi anticipates that the transaction will be accretive to its earnings per share in fiscal year 2005. Datacon, a private company founded in 1986 and located in Radfeld, Austria is a global manufacturer of flip chip bonding, multichip die bonding and other related assembly equipment for the semiconductor and telecommunications industries. According to data for 2003 from VLSI, an independent research firm covering the semiconductor industry, Datacon is the world’s largest manufacturer of flip chip bonding equipment to the semiconductor industry. The use of flip chip bonding technology is critical for the needs of chip manufacturers to further shrink device sizes while increasing functionality for applications such as wireless telephony, personal digital assistants, consumer electronics and Internet infrastructure. Datacon’s largest customers are principally European and North American semiconductor manufacturers such as Epcos, Infineon, Bosch, ST Micro, Skyworks and Fairchild as well as Asian assembly subcontractors such as Amkor, ASE and Chippac STATS. Datacon has production facilities in Radfeld, Austria, Györ, Hungary and Berlin, Germany, currently employs approximately 440 people and has an estimated installed base of approximately 1,500 machines at customer locations worldwide. As of November 10, 2004, Datacon had € 23.7 million of net debt. After the acquisition, Besi intends to operate Datacon as an independent subsidiary. Datacon’s current Management Board will remain in place and become part of the global Besi management team.