November 22, 2004 – Citing a need to reorganize and raise cash while divesting itself of its Semiconductor Equipment Group, Robotic Vision Systems Inc. (RVSI) has announced that it has filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code in the US Bankruptcy Court in Manchester, NH. The company intends to continue operating its business as a “debtor in possession.”
The company seeks to reorganize in order to raise sufficient cash to meet its operational needs while it attempts to divest the assets of its Semiconductor Equipment Group (SEG). By divesting those assets, which include end-of-line 3D inspection systems (lead scanning) and 2D and 3D tools for bumped wafer inspection (wafer inspection), RVSI believes it will be able to satisfy or reinstate much of its debt and have the liquidity necessary to finance the growth of its Acuity CiMatrix business, which includes board-level machine vision systems and 2D bar code (Data Matrix) reading products.
“We are taking these steps to restructure our business for the purpose of returning to profitability,” said CEO Pat V. Costa. “We firmly believe that our business will better be served by selling the SEG business. By these efforts, we will be able to better concentrate on the exciting Data Matrix business and increase necessary cash flow. We intend to continue to ship product to customers, meet future vendor commitments, and carry on our sales and marketing programs.”
The company will continue to operate its business while in Chapter 11, and intends to propose a plan of reorganization to the Bankruptcy Court for approval.
On Friday, RVSI said it was notified by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that a civil fraud action was filed against four former and one current RVSI employees relating to RVSI’s restatement of earnings in May 2001. Four of the five defendants have consented to the entry of judgments against them without admitting or denying the allegations of the SEC’s complaint. RVSI agreed to the settlement without admitting or denying the SEC’s factual allegations against RVSI.
“These proceedings deal with events that are now more than three years in the past. We are pleased to put this matter behind us,” said Costa.