Tool companies Veeco, FEI to merge

July 12, 2002 — Veeco Instruments Inc. of Woodbury, N.Y. and FEI Co. of Hillsboro, Ore., announced today the signing of a definitive merger agreement to combine the companies. Both companies develop and manufacture process equipment and metrology tools.

As a result of the merger, Mark Miller, a securities analyst with Hoefer and Arnett, upgraded Veeco from a hold to a buy.

Under the agreement, approved by the boards of both companies, FEI will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Veeco, which will be renamed Veeco FEI Inc. The combined company will continue trading on the Nasdaq market under the symbol VECO.

Pending stockholder and regulatory approval, FEI stockholders will receive 1.355 shares of Veeco common stock for every share of FEI stock. The merger is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2002.

Based on combined 2002 sales of $825 million, the two companies combined would constitute the sixth largest U.S. semiconductor equipment company and the third largest U.S. supplier of metrology equipment.

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