Dec. 20, 2004 — Colibrys SA of Neuchatel, Switzerland announced it has completed the acquisition of the Applied MEMS subsidiary from Stafford, Texas-based Input/Output Inc. (NYSE: IO).
The all-stock transaction is intended to increase the privately held Colibrys’ competitiveness in the MEMS fabrication sector. The company will continue to operate under the Colibrys name. It will keep its headquarters in Switzerland but the Applied MEMS group will continue to operate out of Texas.
Specifically, the companies say the transaction will decrease manufacturing costs and expedite time-to-delivery on MEMS products, among other benefits, according to a transaction summary released by the companies. They say it will also help Colibrys penetrate new geographic markets and application areas.
Under the transaction, Input/Output will maintain a minority equity interest in the combined company and will hold a seat on its board. In addition, Input/Output will retain ownership of all existing Applied MEMS intellectual property and will license it to Colibrys royalty-free. Colibrys will be the primary supplier of MEMS accelerometers to Input/Output for its seismic monitoring applications.
Colibrys provides custom and standard MEMS components for navigation and guidance, telecommunications, life sciences and industrial imaging. It spun out of the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology in 2001. Input/Output, a provider of seismic imaging products, established Applied MEMS as an in-house foundry in 1996. It began taking outside customers in 2001.