NEWPORT, Wales, England, May 28 -- Trikon Technologies Inc., a provider of semiconductor processing equipment, announced that it had sold 925,930 common shares and 92,593 warrants to purchase its common shares at $13.50 per share for $10.0 million. The warrants, if exercised in full, will raise an additional $1.25 million. The company intends to use the proceeds for working capital and general corporate purposes.
    The common shares were placed with an existing institutional shareholder at a 10 percent discount to the average closing price of the company's stock for the 15 days ended May 18, and represent approximately 7.2 percent of the common stock of Trikon outstanding immediately following this private placement.
    "Low k dielectrics, planar opto and optoelectronic devices now represent substantial opportunities for Trikon," said Nigel Wheeler, president and CEO of Trikon. "We have matched this with a high level of activity developing equipment and processes particularly for CVD and plasma etching. Whilst the present market conditions are difficult and the immediate future remains unclear we are confident that these are high growth, high profitability opportunities. These additional funds will assist us at this time in maintaining and increasing developments for these strategic markets."