DRUNEN, The Netherlands, Jan. 7 -- BE Semiconductor Industries NV, manufacturer of assembly equipment for the semiconductor industry, announced it has acquired Laurier Inc. in an all-cash transaction. Laurier is a privately held US company based in New Hampshire that manufactures die sorting pick-and-place equipment for companies including IBM, Lucent Technologies, Agere, Universal Instruments, Philips, Texas Instruments and Nortel. BE Semiconductor said it will operate Laurier as an independent subsidiary overseen by its current CEO, Joseph H. Johnson.