Suss MicroTec Buys HamaTech

Suss MicroTec AG has concluded contract negotiations to acquire HamaTech APE GmbH & Co. KG for €9 million ($13 million). The transaction is set to be completed this month.

Both parties have signed a corresponding purchase agreement, which stipulates a purchase price of

€4.5 million ($6.5 million) plus a further €4.5 million for the acquisition of the land and company building at the Sternenfels production site. A comprehensive term sheet for the acquisition was signed Dec. 6, 2009.

HamaTech APE, a wholly owned subsidiary of Singulus Technologies AG, is a developer of photomasks for the semiconductor industry. It employs about 80 globally and is expected to generate €11 million ($16 million) in sales for fiscal 2009.

Frank Averdung, CEO of Suss MicroTec, and Roland Lacher, CEO of Singulus, sign the HamaTech purchase agreement on Jan. 12, 2010. (Photo: Business Wire)

“HamaTech’s 20 years of experience in developing processes and equipment, along with its highly innovative cleaning technology, ideally complement Suss MicroTec’s core competency of critical wet processing in semiconductor production,” said Frank Averdung, CEO of SUSS MicroTec. “The modern production site at Sternenfels is ideally suited for expansion into a groupwide competence center for wet processing. We therefore intend to relocate the coater and developer production setup in neighboring Vaihingen ... [south of] the Sternenfels plant.”

The purchase price of €4.5 million is composed of a fixed and variable portion. The fixed component amounts to €3.5 million ($5 million) and will be paid in cash. The variable earn-out component amounts to €1.0 million ($1.5 million) and is linked to the future sales performance of HamaTech this year.

“The high performance and efficiency of our systems have turned us into the globally recognized market leader in our sector. We address the most demanding requirements of 193i conventional lithography and, in addition, we are today the only supplier of solutions for cleaning masks for EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography,” said Wilma Koolen-Hermkens, managing director of HamaTech.

For more information, visit: www.suss.com