Irvine, California–Newport Corp. today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to merge with Kensington Laboratories Inc., a Richmond, California-based, privately held manufacturer of high-precision robotic and motion control equipment for the semiconductor and fiber optic communication industries.

The all-stock transaction will be accounted for as a pooling of interests and, accordingly, Newport will restate its historical financial information to include the results of Kensington for all prior periods. Kensington, which holds more than 20 patents covering advanced robotics and motion control technology, is expected to have revenues of approximately $38 million for the year 2000.

The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Newport’s 2000 and 2001 results, adding an estimated $.10 per share to Newport’s projected 2000 earnings and an estimated $.15 per share to 2001 earnings. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2001.

Kensington Laboratories develops and manufactures advanced high-throughput, submicron motion control and robotic systems used for optical fiber alignment and semiconductor wafer handling–particularly in the advanced 300mm processing systems. Kensington will be integrated with Newport’s Industrial and Scientific Technologies Division (ISTD), which develops and manufactures a complementary portfolio of components and subsystems that use submicron motion control technology.

“A key growth strategy of our company has been to extend Newport’s infrastructure and intellectual property base in order to become a leading single-source supplier of test, measurement, and automation solutions to the fiber optic communications and semiconductor equipment markets,” says Robert Deuster, chairman and chief executive officer of Newport.